Sitting Hours

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Leader of the House, if he will give further consideration to the sitting hours of the House on Wednesdays; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: the present sitting hours for Wednesdays were agreed by the House in October 2002 and were confirmed in January 2005. I have no plans to propose any changes to the current arrangements.

Departments: Consultants

Theresa May: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list the outside  (a) agencies and  (b) consultancies which are undertaking work commissioned by his Office; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost is of each commission.

Jack Straw: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and the House authorities commissioned Domain Technologies to develop a database to allow for the electronic exchange of parliamentary questions between Government departments and the House of Commons (ePC). The current phase of development cost £34,369 (including VAT.), shared between my Office and the House authorities.
	Domain Technologies have also been engaged to make enhancements to my private office database which manages correspondence and briefing documents. This is at a cost of £14,558 (including VAT.).

Pollution: Fines

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been levied in fines by local authorities for incidences of pollution against  (a) companies,  (b) local authorities and  (c) individuals for each type of pollution incidence (i) in total, (ii) in each region and (iii) for each fine in each financial year since 1998-99.

Ben Bradshaw: The total value of fixed penalty notices (FPNs), issued by English regions for noise related offences in 2004-05 and 2005-06, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			   Fine total (£) 
			  Region  2004-05  2005-06 
			 South East 100 100 
			 North West 4 — 
			 North East 56 1,500 
			 West Midlands 1,500 — 
			 East of England 2 — 
			 Yorkshire and Humber — 100 
			 Total 1,672 1,700 
		
	
	The Department does not hold data for offences from 1998 to 2003, or whether FPNs were issued to companies or private individuals.
	The Clean Air Act provides for fines for various offences which are all enforced by local authorities through magistrate courts. However, DEFRA does not collect this data.
	For contaminated land, part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 provides for fines, levied through the courts, where a person fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any of the requirements of a remediation notice. Any convictions for such offences are contained on a register maintained by the enforcing authority. DEFRA does not collect this data centrally.
	Total fines imposed by the courts for offences under the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations, where local authorities are the regulator, are shown as follows. Data are only available from 2000.
	
		
			   Fines imposed (£) 
			  Region  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 North East — — — — — — 
			 North West — — 500.00 23,000.00 475.00 22,500.00 
			 Yorks and Humberside 5,500.00 10,500.00 9,500.00 4,500.00 — 4,500.00 
			 West Midlands 2,000.00 15,000.00 — — 237,820.00 23,000.00 
			 East Midlands — — 4,000.00 30,000.00 8,000.00 — 
			 East of England 72,400.00 — 2,500.00 — 2,000.00 — 
			 Wales — 8,000.00 2,000.00 2,000.00 — 750.00 
			 London — — 21,116.00 — — — 
			 South East — 29,000.00 — — — — 
			 South West 7,250.00 — — — — — 
			 Total 87,150.00 62,500.00 39,616.00 59,500.00 248,295.00 50,750.00 
		
	
	Again, a more detailed breakdown of this information is not available.
	Further data on fines levied by local authorities for other pollution incidents could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Wastes: Transport

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of UK recyclable waste was exported to  (a) China and  (b) other countries by (i) ship and (ii) other forms of transport in the latest year for which figures are available; what tonnage this represented; and what controls or restrictions are placed on the end disposal of exported waste.

Ben Bradshaw: Where non-hazardous waste (such as separated recyclables) are exported, they are generally subject only to commercial controls, not to the prior notification and consent procedures which apply to exports of hazardous waste. They are, therefore, not notified and precise data is not available. However, HM Revenue and Customs' indicative overseas trade statistics show that, of the waste metal, paper, plastic and glass cullet and their associated scraps exported from the UK in 2006, 19 per cent. was destined for China. The tonnages for China that year were 2,430,618 against a figure for all exports of 12,735,753.
	We are unable to provide exact data on the method of transport used to export waste. However, most waste is transported by sea. Until it reaches the UK port, this transport would probably be by road. Upon reaching its port of destination, the method of transport is likely to be road, rail or inland waterway. Air transport is generally uneconomic for wastes, given their low cost and bulky characteristics.
	Exports of waste from the UK for disposal are prohibited. However, certain non-hazardous wastes such as paper, glass and plastic can be exported for recovery or recycling, provided the wastes are destined for genuine and environmentally sound recovery operations. This would include the management of any minimal residues from recovery that require disposal. Such disposal would also need to be consistent with environmentally sound management in any country of destination.

Jobcentres: Copeland

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many job vacancies were available through the jobcentres in Copeland in the financial year ending  (a) March 1997 and  (b) March 2007.

Jim Murphy: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus in the Copeland parliamentary constituency  
			  Financial year   Number of vacancies  
			 2004-05   3,220   
			 2005-06   2,250   
			 2006-07   3,050   
			  Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Information is only available at constituency level from April 2004. 3. Figures are not fully comparable over time and may not indicate developments in the labour market.  Source:  DWP Information Directorate Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System.

New Deal

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total expenditure was on each New Deal programme for each year since 1997-98.

Jim Murphy: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million  
			New deal for young people   New deal for 25 plus   New deal for young people and new deal 25 plus   New deal for 50 plus   New deal for lone parents   New deal for disabled people   New deal for partners   Total  
			 1997-98   12   —   —   —   —   —   —   12   
			 1998-99   162   17   —   —   1   —   —   180   
			 1999-2000   282   71   —   1   12   15   —   381   
			 2000-01   293   42   —   45   14   7   1   402   
			 2001-02   219   140   —   82   9   4   2   456   
			 2002-03   221   167   —   82   18   16   —   504   
			 2003-04   264   189   —   41   20   28   —   542   
			 2004-05   254   179   —   3   24   65   1   526   
			 2005-06   —   —   3231   1   26   68   1   419   
			 Total   1,707   805   3231   255   124   203   5   3,422   
			  Notes: 1. There is no split currently available between new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus for 2005-06. The expenditure has been presented as a combined figure until an apportionment is made in the departmental report. 2. Spend data includes all new deal programme costs and allowances paid to participants apart from the 50 plus element of the working tax credit. As this is not included, new deal 50 plus costs reduce after 2002-03. 3. Following agreement with HM Treasury in 2002-03, ring fences were removed from new deal. Administrative costs are excluded as it is no longer possible to identify the costs of administering the costs of each new deal separately from the costs of other labour market activities. 4. Expenditure data includes start-up costs. 5. Following changes to the new deal 25 plus programme in April 2001 when a mandatory intensive activity period was introduced, programme costs rose significantly. 6. Expenditure for new deal for partners in 2002-03 and 2003-04 is not recorded in the table as, excluding administrative costs, costs were around £300,000 for both years and all figures are rounded to the nearest million. New deal for partners was re-launched in April 2004. 7. Programme start dates are: new deal for young people: January 1998; new deal 25 plus: July 1998; new deal for lone parents: October 1998; new deal for partners: April 1999; new deal 50 plus: April 2000; new deal for disabled people: July 2001 (new deal for disabled people pilots ran from September 1998 to June 2001). 8. Latest figures are to March 2006.  Source: DWP Departmental Reports 2004-05, Jobcentre Plus Accounts 2005-06

New Deal

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost was of the new deal programme in each of the years for which figures are available since its inception, broken down by region.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 23 April 2007
	 The information is in the following table.
	
		
			  New deal spend by region/country  
			  £ million  
			  Region   1997-98   1998-99   1999-2000   2000-01   2001-02   2002-03   2003-04   2004-05   2005-06   Total  
			 East Midlands   —   8   17   18   20   21   20   20   13   136   
			 East of England   —   7   14   14   13   14   16   17   18   112   
			 London   —   11   33   36   39   51   66   77   59   371   
			 North East   —   12   25   28   31   31   32   30   19   207   
			 North West   —   14   37   40   43   43   51   44   39   311   
			 Office for Scotland   —   10   34   40   38   45   46   42   31   286   
			 Office for Wales   —   7   20   23   21   24   23   22   13   154   
			 South East   —   6   12   14   12   15   18   22   23   121   
			 South West   —   9   17   19   18   18   19   21   16   137   
			 West Midlands   —   8   20   22   30   31   33   31   21   196   
			 Yorkshire and Humberside   —   18   36   39   36   38   37   33   36   273   
			 Non regional(1)   12   70   115   110   155   174   182   168   131   1,118   
			 Total   (2)12   180   381   402   456   504   542   526   419   3,422   
			 (1) Relates to centrally administered expenditure, some of which is spent locally, for example, new deal allowances. Also includes new deal programme research. (2) Expenditure in the 1997-98 financial year was centrally administered.  Notes: 1. Figures exclude administrative expenditure. 2. Figures are subject to rounding differences and totals may not sum due to rounding.  Source:  Departmental Report up to March 2005;  Jobcentre Plus Accounts to March 2006.

Poverty

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of  (a) children and  (b) pensioners in (i) Hartlepool constituency, (ii) Tees Valley sub-region, (iii) the North East region and (iv) the UK were recorded as living in poverty in each year since 1992.

Jim Murphy: Specific information regarding low income is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994-95 to 2005-06 (revised)". The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
	The data source does not allow us to provide robust estimates below the level of Government Office Region.
	The numbers and proportions of children and percentages in households with low incomes, in the North East and Great Britain/United Kingdom for the period 1994-95 to 2005-06, are presented in the following tables 1 to 4 . Estimates are shown Before and After Housing Costs.
	The data shown here is for Great Britain from 1994-95 to 1996-97 and for the United Kingdom from 1998-99 onwards.
	Please note that the results are based on OECD equivalisation factors, and therefore may differ from previously published statistics which were based on McClements equivalisation factors.
	
		
			  Table 1: Children in the North East  1994- 95 to 2005- 0 6 
			   Before housing costs  After housing costs 
			  Number of children living in low income households  (millions) : 
			 1994-95 to 1996-97 0.19 0.22 
			 1995-96 to 1997-98 0.20 0.22 
			 1996-97 to 1998-99 0.20 0.23 
			 1997-98 to 1999-2000 0.20 0.23 
			 1998-99 to 2000-01 0.19 0.22 
			 1999-2000 to 2001-02 0.17 0.20 
			 2000-01 to 2002-03 0.18 0.20 
			 2001-02 to 2003-04 0.17 0.18 
			 2002-03 to 2004-05 0.17 0.19 
			 2003-04 to 2005-06 0.15 0.17 
			
			  Percentage of  c hildren living  in low income households: 
			 1994-95 to 1996-97 32 37 
			 1995-96 to 1997-98 33 38 
			 1996-97 to 1998-99 35 40 
			 1997-98 to 1999-2000 34 40 
			 1998-99 to 2000-01 34 39 
			 1999-2000 to 2001-02 30 35 
			 2000-01 to 2002-03 32 36 
			 2001-02 to 2003-04 30 33 
			 2002-03 to 2004-05 31 34 
			 2003-04 to 2005-06 28 32 
			  Notes: 1. Numbers, for the North East region, are presented using a three-year moving average, as single-year estimates do not provide a robust guide to year-on-year changes. Hence, figures are not consistent with any previously published single-year estimates and there may be differences in changes over time. In circumstances such as a change in trend, moving averages will show less variation than single-year estimates. 2. The table shows number of children in millions—rounded to the nearest 10 thousand. 3. In this answer low income is determined for children as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the national median.  Source: Family Resources Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Children in Great Britain/United Kingdom 1994-95 to 2005-06 
			   Before housing costs  After housing costs 
			  Number of  c hildren living in low inc ome household (millions) : 
			 1994-95 3.2 4.1 
			 1995-96 3.0 4.2 
			 1996-97 3.4 4.3 
			 1997-98 3.4 4.2 
			 1998-99 3.4 4.4 
			 1999-2000 3.4 4.3 
			 2000-01 3.1 4.1 
			 2001-02 3.0 4.0 
			 2002-03 2.9 3.9 
			 2003-04 2.9 3.7 
			 2004-05 2.7 3.6 
			 2005-06 2.8 3.8 
			
			  Percentage of  c hildren living  in low income households: 
			 1994-95 25 33 
			 1995-96 24 33 
			 1996-97 27 34 
			 1997-98 27 33 
			 1998-99 26 34 
			 1999-2000 26 33 
			 2000-01 23 31 
			 2001-02 23 31 
			 2002-03 23 30 
			 2003-04 22 29 
			 2004-05 21 28 
			 2005-06 22 30 
			  Notes: 1. The table shows number of children in millions. 2. In this answer low income is determined for children as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the national median. 3. Figures from 1998-99 onwards are for the United Kingdom, figures prior to 1998-99 are for Great Britain.  Source: Family Resources Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Pensioners in the North East 1994-95 to 2005-06 
			   Before housing costs  After housing costs 
			  Number of  p ensioners living in low income households (millions): 
			 1994-95 to 1996-97 0.12 0.15 
			 1995-96 to 1997-98 0.12 0.15 
			 1996-97 to 1998-99 0.12 0.15 
			 1997-98 to 1999-2000 0.13 0.15 
			 1998-99 to 2000-01 0.14 0.14 
			 1999-2000 to 2001-02 0.13 0.13 
			 2000-01 to 2002-03 0.12 0.13 
			 2001-02 to 2003-04 0.11 0.11 
			 2002-03 to 2004-05 0.10 0.09 
			 2003-04 to 2005-06 0.09 0.08 
			
			  Percentage of  p ensioners living in low income households: 
			 1994-95 to 1996-97 26 33 
			 1995-96 to 1997-98 26 33 
			 1996-97 to 1998-99 26 32 
			 1997-98 to 1999-2000 28 31 
			 1998-99 to 2000-01 30 31 
			 1999-2000 to 2001-02 28 28 
			 2000-01 to 2002-03 26 27 
			 2001-02 to 2003-04 23 23 
			 2002-03 to 2004-05 22 20 
			 2003-04 to 2005-06 20 17 
			  Notes: 1. Numbers, for the North East region, are presented using a three-year moving average, as single-year estimates do not provide a robust guide to year-on-year changes. Hence, figures are not consistent with any previously published single-year estimates and there may be differences in changes over time. In circumstances such as a change in trend, moving averages will show less variation than single-year estimates. 2. The table shows number of pensioners in millions—rounded to the nearest 10 thousand. 3. In this answer low income is determined for pensioners as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the national median.  Source: Family Resources Survey 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4: Pensioners in Great Britain/United Kingdom  1994-95 to 2005-06 
			   Before housing costs  After housing costs 
			  Number of  p ensioners living in low income households (millions): 
			 1994-95 2.4 2.8 
			 1995-96 2.4 2.8 
			 1996-97 2.4 2.9 
			 1997-98 2.5 2.9 
			 1998-99 2.8 2.9 
			 1999-2000 2.6 2.8 
			 2000-01 2.6 2.7 
			 2001-02 2.6 2.7 
			 2002-03 2.5 2.5 
			 2003-04 2.4 2.2 
			 2004-05 2.3 1.9 
			 2005-06 2.2 1.8 
			
			  Percentage of pensioners living in low income households: 
			 1994-95 24 28 
			 1995-96 24 28 
			 1996-97 25 29 
			 1997-98 25 29 
			 1998-99 27 29 
			 1999-2000 25 28 
			 2000-01 25 26 
			 2001-02 25 26 
			 2002-03 24 24 
			 2003-04 23 21 
			 2004-05 21 18 
			 2005-06 21 17 
			  Notes: 1. The table shows number of pensioners in millions. 2. In this answer low income is determined for pensioners as living in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of the national median. 3. Figures from 1998-99 onwards are for the United Kingdom, figures prior to 1998-99 are for Great Britain.  Source: Family Resources Survey

Departments: Epilepsy

Nick Hurd: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people with epilepsy are employed by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Armstrong: Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, people have a right to decide if they wish to disclose a disability. This data is stored confidentially and therefore not disclosed.

Equatorial Guinea: Overseas Aid

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid the Government gave  (a) directly and  (b) through non-governmental organisations to Equatorial Guinea in each of the last five years.

Hilary Benn: The UK Government have given no bilateral assistance to Equatorial Guinea in any of the last five years, either directly or through NGO's.

Nepal: Refugee Camps

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of living conditions in the Goldhap refugee camp in eastern Nepal.

Gareth Thomas: DFID is not directly involved in the running and administration of the refugee camps in Nepal and has not made its own assessment. However, we are kept informed by the UN about the status of camps and refugees as part of the regular donor dialogue in Kathmandu. DFID Nepal has also had some direct contact and discussions with representatives from the camps about conditions generally and has fed their views back to the UN system.
	Of the seven Bhutanese refugee camps in eastern Nepal, Goldhap camp is a middle-size camp, located in the Jhapa district, and has approximately 1,344 families with a total population of 9,626 persons.
	The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) assess the camps as having a high level of education. The general level of medical care and nutrition is above the national average; however recent studies have indicated the prevalence of anaemia in the camps, mainly among expectant mothers and children. In response, UNHCR is implementing a Special Project on Health and Nutrition designed to address this issue.
	In terms of prosecuting sexual and gender-based violence and other crimes in the camps, the UNHCR-supported Nepal Bar Association provides a legal assistance programme consisting of legal counselling, legal representation and support in the filing of cases, either in court or at a police station. The involvement of legal professionals from the beginning of the process has helped to strengthen support mechanisms.
	Daily camp life is managed with the active support of refugees through the Camp Management Committee, which is formed by refugee representatives annually elected by refugees in a democratic voting process.
	Security is provided by the Government of Nepal through a small, recently reinstated police presence in all the camps, with the support of a small number of refugee volunteers who consist of the refugee Community Watch Team. UNHCR also run a number of skills development training course to promote refugee empowerment, with a specific focus on refugee women.

Electronic Equipment: Waste Disposal

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what provisions the Department has negotiated with companies establishing membership schemes with advance fees for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment to ensure that funds will remain available to meet the costs of disposal when the equipment reaches end of life.

Malcolm Wicks: Under the WEEE Regulations the issue of membership fees are a commercial matter between Producer Compliance Schemes and producers. Producer Compliance Schemes are however required under the regulations to ensure they have sufficient resources to fully discharge the obligation of their members.

Industrial Diseases: Compensation

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which 30 firms of solicitors' numbers of miners' have handled the greatest ill-health compensation cases settled via the fast-track for miners' compensation.

Malcolm Wicks: The 30 firms who have settled most claims through the fast-track options are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Claimants' representative  Claims settled by fast-track 
			 Beresfords Solicitors 23,671 
			 Avalon Solicitors 13,546 
			 Hugh James 10,105 
			 Raleys Solicitors 9,819 
			 Thompsons Solicitors 9,059 
			 Browell Smith and Co. 7,664 
			 Barber and Co. 5,556 
			 Union of Democratic Mineworkers 4,653 
			 Watson Burton LLP 4,223 
			 Delta Legal 4,191 
			 Graysons Solicitors 3,220 
			 Ashton Morton Slack LLP 3,001 
			 BRM Solicitors 2,553 
			 Randell Lloyd Jenkins and Martin 2,109 
			 Ingrams Solicitors 1,907 
			 Corries York 1,900 
			 Mark Gilbert Morse 1,890 
			 Hilary Meredith Solicitors 1,742 
			 The Legal Warehouse 1,726 
			 Gorman Hamilton Solicitors 1,573 
			 Moss Solicitors 1,409 
			 Corries Solicitors 1,314 
			 Kidd and Spoor Harper Solicitors 1,215 
			 Birchall Blackburn 1,079 
			 1 Legal Solicitors 1,027 
			 Onyems and Partners 1,011 
			 Bailey Bravo Jobling 932 
			 Recompense Ltd. 812 
			 Towells Solicitors 760 
			 Wake Smith 742

British Library

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the visitor numbers recorded for the British Library were for the latest year for which figures are available; and what change this represents from  (a) the previous year and  (b) each of the previous five years.

Shaun Woodward: The information requested is as follows.
	
		
			  Number of visits to reading rooms( 1) 
			   Visits  Percentage increase 
			 2006-07 474,074 — 
			 2005-06 462,207 2.5 
			 2001-02 431,525 9.9 
			 (1 )Comprising manual tickets issued to readers at St. Pancras; headcounts taken three times a day for the open access reading rooms at St. Pancras; daily counts of visitors to reading rooms at Boston Spa, Colindale and Philatelic Section. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of visits to on-site public access facilities( 1) 
			   Visits  Percentage increase 
			 2006-07 510,212 — 
			 2005-06 385,263 32.4 
			 2001-02 365,792 39.5 
			 (1) Comprising number of visits to the exhibitions, auditorium events for the public and piazza events. 2005-06 Exhibition gallery visits adversely affected by terrorist activities in the vicinity. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of learners attending educational sessions( 1) 
			   Visits  Percentage increase 
			 2006-07 10,127 — 
			 2005-06 9,500 6.6 
			 2001-02 7,604 33.2 
			 (1) Number of individual learners (schools/FE colleges) who have participated in a workshop, outreach visit or project activity. 
		
	
	
		
			  Website visitors( 1) 
			   Visits  Percentage increase 
			 2006-07 7,920 — 
			 2005-06 4,229,076 87.3 
			 2001-02 n/a n/a 
			 (1) Best approximation of the use made of the BL website by individuals. Figures not available for 2001-02

Departments: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what grants for which her Department is responsible have been given to Peterborough city council since 1997; and what the value was of such grants.

Shaun Woodward: In the revenue return to Communities and Local Government, Peterborough reported that they have received no grants between 1997-98 and 2006-07 from my Department. These specific grants are those inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils' core services) paid to Peterborough and exclude grants outside AEF such as capital grants, funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities, European funding; or where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
	These revenue returns do not therefore detail the money that is paid out by the National Lottery, DCMS non-departmental public bodies and other sources. Departmental data indicates that the following grants were paid to Peterborough.
	The following table shows the number and value of grants on the Department's Lottery Grants Database (which uses information supplied by the lottery distributors) where the name of the recipient is recorded as "Peterborough city council". Lottery distributing bodies make grant decisions independently of my Department.
	
		
			  Calendar year  Number of Grants  Value of grants to nearest £1,000 
			 1997 1 15,000 
			 1998 1 54,000 
			 1999 1 629,000 
			 2000 3 528,000 
			 2001 6 490,000 
			 2002 6 653,000 
			 2003 12 1,326,000 
			 2004 5 1,480,000 
			 2005 4 401,000 
			 2006 0 0 
			 2007 (to date) 0 0 
			 Total 39 5,578,000 
		
	
	Arts Council England has provided grants totalling £204,659 to Peterborough
	city council since 1997, see following table.
	
		
			   Project  Value of Grant 
			 1997-98 Consultancy for Peterborough Arts Strategy 7,500 
			 1998-99 To support the salary of a literature development worker in Peterborough 4,500 
			 1998-99 Towards 'Once Upon a Time' video drama project, from the Media Production fund 4,000 
			 1998-99 Many Voices, One City project 1,500 
			 1998-99 To support artists' fees, venue hire and publicity costs of the Peterborough Festival of Stories 1,000 
			 1999-2000 To support the salary of a literature development worker for Peterborough 4,500 
			 2000-01 ESF Project Funding 5,334 
			 2001-02 To present and promote a programme of contemporary art and digital 1 art at the Museum and Art gallery 7,426 
			 2002-03 New Media Gallery 132,899 
			 2002-03 To link the launch of the New Media Gallery with the regional 'MESH' event in April 2003. The project will commission new work 36,000 
			 Total  204,659 
		
	
	English Heritage has provided grants totalling £99,651 to Peterborough city
	council since 1997, see following table.
	
		
			Value of  g rant (£) 
			 1997 Conservation Area Partnership Scheme 18,937 
			 1998 Conservation Area Partnership Scheme 3,322 
			 1999 Conservation Area Partnership Scheme 17,767 
			 2005 Peterborough's First People Project 59,625 
			 Total  99,651 
		
	
	Sport England has provided one grant to Peterborough city council since 1997 of £100,000 for Woodford Skate Park in 2004.
	Screen East, the Regional Screen Agency, has provided grants totalling £11,000 to Peterborough city council since 1997, see following table.
	
		
			  Date  Project  Value of grant (£) 
			 4 July 2005 Children's & Young People's Film Awards 5,000 
			 29 September 2006 Children's & Young People's Film Awards 6,000 
			 Total  11,000

Driving Tests

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many driving tests for the car test were taken in each year since 1997.

Stephen Ladyman: The Driving Standards Agency records the tests conducted figure by financial year, and only has records from 1999-2000 onwards. The number of car driving tests conducted per year is shown as follows.
	
		
			  Practical tests conducted 
			   Number 
			 1999-2000 1,129,904 
			 2000-01 1,129,849 
			 2001-02 1,217,515 
			 2002-03 1,348,191 
			 2003-04 1,399,385 
			 2004-05 1,676,147 
			 2005-06 1,836,867 
			 2006-07 1,789,882

Heathrow Airport

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2006,  Official Report, column 750-51W, on Heathrow Airport, what estimate his Department has made of the likely increase in the number of private motor vehicles travelling to and from Heathrow Airport which would result from an additional 61 million passengers per year; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Government are currently assessing all the impacts associated with a potential 3(rd) runway at Heathrow airport, including the impacts on local roads. We will report the findings as part of the Heathrow consultation later this year.

Thames Gateway Bridge

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to decide on the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge; what progress he has made towards determining a tolling regime; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: The decision on planning consent, including the toll order, for the Thames Gateway Bridge will be taken by the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in due course.

Education: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much capital expenditure there was in the education sector in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The following table shows how much capital funding has been allocated to the education sector in East Sussex LA since 1997. As our capital funding is made available through local authorities (LAs) we are unable to provide figures for Eastbourne, which comes under East Sussex LA.
	
		
			  Table 1: Capital Expenditure Allocated to East Sussex LA 
			  £ million 
			   Schools Capital( 1)  Sue Start Local Programme (SSLP)  General Sure Start Grant (GSSG) 
			 1996-97 20.1 0 0 
			 1997-98 16.5 0 0 
			 1998-99 15.1 0 0 
			 1999-2000 30.3 0.47 0 
			 2000-01 18.1 0.80 0 
			 2001-02 16.1 0.58 0 
			 2002-03 23.9 0.06 0.18 
			 2003-04 24.4 0.43 0.07 
			 2004-05 23.7 1.39 0.04 
			 2005-06 17.7 (2)0.59 2.22 
			 2006-07 20.6 (3)0 4.53 
			 (1) Schools Capital allocations are a mixture of grant and supported borrowing.  (2 )The 2005-06 SSLP figure is not final as we have yet to receive the audit reports for all of the programmes—we would not expect any significant change however.  (3) There is no SSLP expenditure in 2006-07 as all SSLP capital programmes finished in 2005-06. 
		
	
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) also make capital allocations to local authorities but are unable to provide details below the level of Sussex LSC. The Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) do not provide any capital funding to local authorities.

English Language: Mathematics

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of people aged 19 achieved level two by  (a) the age of 16 including English and mathematics and  (b) by the age of 19 including English and mathematics in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: We do not currently have information on Level 2 attainment by age 19 including English and Maths.
	The proportion of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and maths by the age of 16 are given in table 1.
	
		
			  Table 1: proportion of pupils aged 15( 1)  achieving 5+ A*-C including English and maths 
			   Percentage of pupils aged 15 achieving 5+ A*-C inc. English and maths 
			 1997 35.6 
			 1998 37.0 
			 1999 38.6 
			 2000 40.0 
			 2001 40.7 
			 2002 42.1 
			 2003 41.9 
			 2004 42.6 
			 2005 44.3 
			 2006 45.3 
			 (1) Pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August). 
		
	
	The proportion of young people qualified to level 2 by age and cohort is given in table 2.
	
		
			  Table 2: proportion of young people qualified to level 2 or higher, by age and cohort 
			   Percentage  
			   Attained level 2+ by age:  
			  Cohort  16( 1)  17  18  19  20  21  Population( 2) 
			 19 in 2004 49.2 56.1 62.0 66.3 69.1 71.1 614,560 
			 19 in 2005 50.3 58.5 64.9 69.3 72.0 n/a 618,400 
			 19 in 2006 52.2 60.1 67.1 71.4 n/a n/a 631,890 
			 19 in 2007 53.0 62.2 70.4 n/a n/a n/a 652,180 
			 19 in 2008 55.5 64.9 n/a n/a n/a n/a 645,400 
			 19 in 2009 57.2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 656,210 
			 n/a = Data not available. (1) Estimates at age 16 differ from other published figures on the attainment of pupils aged 15 in schools and colleges because different denominators are used and matching means the numerators are not quite the same. (2) The population is the size of the cohort at academic age 14, taken from the Annual Schools Census count for the relevant year. For example, the 19 in 2006 population (people aged 18 on 31 August 2005) is the number of pupils aged 14 on 31 August 2001.

GCSE: Standards

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local education authorities in England in order of proportion of students attaining five A to C grades GCSEs on average by its schools in  (a) 1990,  (b) 1995,  (c) 2000 and  (d) 2006.

Jim Knight: The information for 1994/95, 1999/2000 and 2005/06 has been placed in the Library. Information for 1989/90 is in Table C17 of Statistics of Education School Examinations GCSE and GCE 1990, which is also available in the Library. Since this information is only available within a hard copy publication, the local authorities are not ranked in order of the proportion of pupils achieving 5 A-C grades at GCSE.

Higher Education: Yorkshire and Humberside

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students from  (a) Yorkshire and Humberside,  (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire and  (c) nationally were allocated a university place in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell: The numbers of undergraduate entrants to UK higher education institutions for each year since 1997/98 are given in the table. Figures for the 2006/07 academic year will be available in January 2008.
	
		
			  Number of entrants to undergraduate courses( 1)  from East Riding of Yorkshire local authority, Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region and England, UK higher education institutions( 2) :( : ) academic years 1997/98 to 2005/06 
			  Academic year  East Riding of Yorkshire local authority  Yorkshire & Humberside Government office region  England 
			 1997/98 2,685 32,310 377,855 
			 1998/99 2,785 37,215 402,240 
			 1999/2000 2,765 36,715 401,345 
			 2000/01 2,925 36,965 398,700 
			 2001/02 3,215 38,595 423,965 
			 2002/03 3,110 39,685 440,520 
			 2003/04 2,920 39,755 446,045 
			 2004/05 3,130 40,050 446,695 
			 2005/06 3,240 43,485 462,950 
			 (1) Covers students on full-time and part-time modes of study. (2) Exclude the Open University.  Note:  Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December for comparability and are rounded to the nearest 5.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

Higher Education: Finance

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much per capita funding was provided by his Department for  (a) higher national diplomas and  (b) foundation degrees in each of the last five years.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 18 May 2007
	We can provide information on the rate of estimated average grant per full-time equivalent for the periods 2002-03 to 2006-07. The following table contains full-time equivalent cash figures calculated by the Higher Education and Funding Council for England. Figures include an allowance for widening participation.
	
		
			  Estimated HEFCE grant per FTE, to nearest £100 
			  £ 
			   Foundation degree  Higher national diploma 
			 2002-03 3,600 3,300 
			 2003-04 3,700 3,300 
			 2004-05 4,100 3,700 
			 2005-06 4,300 3,900 
			 2006-07 4,500 4,000 
		
	
	Funds for rewarding and developing staff were consolidated into institutions' teaching grants for 2004-05 (having previously been separate). This therefore contributes to the large increase seen in estimated rates of grant for FDs and HNDs between 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Land: Expenditure

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by  (a) local authorities and  (b) the Government on the purchase of land for educational use in (i) outer and (ii) inner London boroughs in the last 12 months; and what average price was paid per hectare in each case.

Jim Knight: The Department does not maintain records, centrally, on purchases of land by local authorities for educational use. It is not Government policy to purchase land directly for educational use. Purchases are made at local authority level, or by the institution which owns the educational facility.

Ofsted

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2007,  Official Report, columns 1395-96W, on Ofsted, what the name was of each consultant employed; what role each consultant played; and what individual payments each consultant received.

Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 24 May 2007:
	Your recent Parliamentary Question has been passed to me as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply. I am sorry for the delay in my response. The information requested is held by a number of teams within Ofsted and it has taken us some time to collate the information.
	You asked, following our response of 27th March 2007, Official Report columns 1395-6W, on Ofsted, the name of each consultant employed; the role each consultant played; and the individual payments each consultant received.
	Our legal advice indicates it would not be appropriate to provide details of the names, fees paid and specific roles relating to individual consultants or companies only employing one consultant as we would be revealing personal data, and so information relating to individuals (which totals about £105,000) has been excluded from the information included at Annex A.
	It would also be contrary to Ofsted's commercial interests and our general contractual relations to release contractual details such as company names and fee rates, and we have therefore presented information on the amount Ofsted has spent on consultancy with suppliers, by groups, in anonymous format in the table attached at Annex A. The amount Ofsted has spent is inclusive of VAT.
	The broad roles fulfilled by the consultants are outlined below:
	Project management and technical consultancy for new information systems development (Suppliers shown in Group A);
	Project management and technical support for Human Resources, Health and Safety and operational management (Suppliers shown in Group B);
	Technical support for an on-line self evaluation system for schools (Suppliers shown in Group C);
	Property management for disposal of surplus property (Suppliers shown in Group D);
	Project management and other technical support for the development for the new Ofsted web site (Suppliers shown in Group E);
	Project management and technical consultancy to update our people management and finance systems (Suppliers shown in Group F).
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
	
		
			  Annex A 
			  Supplier number  Group  Amount spent(£)  Sub total (£)  Total (£) 
			 1 A 46,013 — — 
			 2 A 25,000 — — 
			 3 A 55,000 — — 
			 4 A 5,941 — — 
			 5 A 77,093 — — 
			 6 A 36,861 — — 
			 7 A 283,507 — — 
			 8 A 22,995 — — 
			 9 A 20,642 — — 
			 10 A 238,398 — — 
			 11 A 2,820 — — 
			 12 A 4,512 — — 
			 13 A 94 — — 
			 14 A 16,744 — — 
			 15 A 31,666 — — 
			 16 A 4,700 — — 
			 17 A 48,089 — — 
			 18 A 1,645 — — 
			 19 A 420,984 — — 
			 20 A 4,573 — — 
			 21 A 12,440 1,359,717 — 
			 26 B 1,281 — — 
			 30 B 5,462 — — 
			 31 B 58,309 — — 
			 32 B 71,193 136,245 — 
			 33 C 12,330 — — 
			 34 C 15,999 — — 
			 35 C 97,416 125,745 — 
			 36 D 153 — — 
			 37 D 105,129 105,282 — 
			 38 E 2,350 — — 
			 39 E 71,411 — — 
			 40 E 527,661 601,422 — 
			 41 F 93,951 — — 
			 42 F 21,284 115,235 — 
			 2,443,646

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average expenditure per head was on children in  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in (i) the denominational and (ii) the maintained sectors in each London local authority in (A) 1997 and (B) 2006.

Jim Knight: The following tables provide the aforementioned information in respect of maintained schools with and without a religious character.
	
		
			  School-based expenditure per pupil by local authority maintained primary schools in London, 1997-98 and 2005-06 
			  £ 
			   School-based expenditure per pupil 
			2005-06 
			   1997-98   Of which: 
			  Local authority name  All local authority maintained pre-primary and primary schools  All local authority maintained primary schools  Local authority maintained primary schools with no religious denomination  Local authority maintained primary schools with a specified religious denomination 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1,970 3,350 3,360 3,290 
			 Barnet 1,860 3,560 3,760 3,170 
			 Bexley 1,590 3,020 3,050 2,910 
			 Brent 2,030 3,520 3,490 3,560 
			 Bromley 1,720 2,870 2,890 2,760 
			 Camden 2,390 4,420 4,500 4,300 
			 City of London 3,810 5,060 (1)— 5,060 
			 Croydon 1,910 3,260 3,310 3,020 
			 Ealing 2,020 3,570 3,650 3,190 
			 Enfield 1,900 3,530 3,640 3,170 
			 Greenwich 2,190 3,780 3,800 3,670 
			 Hackney 2,420 4,520 4,510 4,290 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 2,520 4,100 4,320 3,600 
			 Haringey 2,360 3,850 3,930 3,590 
			 Harrow 2,140 3,400 3,460 3,010 
			 Havering 1,750 3,160 3,190 3,010 
			 Hillingdon 1,730 3,320 3,360 3,120 
			 Hounslow 2,060 3,440 3,470 3,220 
			 Islington 2,340 4,210 4,330 3,920 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 2,650 4,440 4,560 4,300 
			 Kingston upon Thames 1,830 3,250 3,380 3,050 
			 Lambeth 2,810 4,400 4,470 4,240 
			 Lewisham 2,340 4,120 4,090 4,200 
			 Merton 2,060 3,360 3,450 3,110 
			 Newham 1,850 3,970 4,010 3,670 
			 Redbridge 1,810 3,070 3,100 2,960 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1,940 3,220 3,270 3,110 
			 Southwark 2,330 4,400 4,500 4,020 
			 Sutton 1,870 3,110 3,130 3,030 
			 Tower Hamlets 2,600 4,630 4,680 4,450 
			 Waltham Forest 2,110 3,540 3,560 3,440 
			 Wandsworth 2,210 3,910 3,940 3,840 
			 Westminster 2,590 4,000 4,230 3,840 
		
	
	
		
			  School-based expenditure per pupil by local authority maintained secondary schools in London, 1997-98 and 2005-06 
			  £ 
			   Secondary school-based expenditure per pupil 
			2005-06 
			   1997-98   Of which: 
			  Local authority name  All local authority maintained secondary schools  All local authority maintained secondary schools  Local authority maintained secondary schools with no religious denomination  Local authority maintained secondary schools with a specified religious denomination 
			 Barking and Dagenham 2,650 4,850 4,880 4,570 
			 Barnet 2,640 4,530 4,570 4,350 
			 Bexley 2,350 4,100 4,050 4,300 
			 Brent 3,850 5,180 5,060 5,530 
			 Bromley 2,570 4,070 4,020 4,590 
			 Camden 3,160 5,650 5,800 5,080 
			 City of London (1)— (1)— (1)— (1)— 
			 Croydon 2,700 4,220 4,250 4,180 
			 Ealing 2,700 4,880 4,900 4,780 
			 Enfield 2,630 4,540 4,580 4,290 
			 Greenwich 2,700 5,230 5,210 4,960 
			 Hackney 3,070 5,980 6,170 5,780 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3,400 5,440 6,160 4,770 
			 Haringey 3,170 5,310 5,280 5,550 
			 Harrow 2,860 4,620 4,700 4,160 
			 Havering 2,720 4,470 4,550 4,240 
			 Hillingdon 2,720 4,420 4,410 4,320 
			 Hounslow 2,670 4,700 4,810 4,380 
			 Islington 3,170 5,560 5,670 5,100 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3,410 5,850 5,860 5,840 
			 Kingston upon Thames 2,480 4,230 4,240 4,200 
			 Lambeth 3,290 5,870 6,110 5,620 
			 Lewisham 3,050 5,480 5,380 5,640 
			 Merton 2,490 4,250 4,360 4,000 
			 Newham 2,820 5,210 5,270 4,850 
			 Redbridge 2,610 4,210 4,260 4,000 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2,550 4,380 4,360 4,660 
			 Southwark 3,040 5,640 5,620 5,680 
			 Sutton 2,540 4,130 4,180 3,900 
			 Tower Hamlets 3,200 6,150 6,250 5,750 
			 Waltham Forest 2,780 4,820 4,820 4,770 
			 Wandsworth 2,640 5,190 5,170 5,310 
			 Westminster 3,050 5,700 5,770 5,630 
			 (1) Figures not available.  Notes: 1. School-based expenditure includes only expenditure incurred directly by the schools. This includes the pay of teachers and school-based support staff, school premises costs, books and equipment, and certain other supplies and services, less any capital items funded from recurrent spending and income from sales, fees and charges and rents and rates. This excludes the central cost of support services such as home to school transport, local authority administration and the financing of capital expenditure. Central local authority expenditure cannot, in all cases, be attributed to a particular phase of education and consequently is excluded from the table. 2. Pupil numbers are full-time equivalent pupil numbers and are drawn from the DfES annual schools census adjusted to be on a financial year basis. 3. Expenditure was not distinguished between the pre-primary and primary sectors until the inception of section 52 for financial year 1999-2000. Comparable figures for school-based expenditure in local authority maintained nursery schools are not available for 2002-03 onwards and hence direct comparisons of the combined pre-primary and primary unit cost in 1997-98 should not be made with the unit cost for primary only in 2005-06. 4. The religious denomination of a school is drawn from the religious character field on Edubase (the DfES database of educational establishments). Schools that are known not to have a particular religious denomination are included in the no denomination column whereas the specified religious denomination column includes all local authority maintained schools in London with a specified religious character. Expenditure data for individual schools is not available in 1997-98 and hence we are unable to split the LA level figures for 1997-98 into schools with and without a religious denomination. 5. Spending in 1997-98 reflects the transfer of monies from local government to central Government for the nursery vouchers scheme. These were returned to local government from 1998-99. 6. 1999-2000 saw a change in data source when the data collection moved from the RO1 form collected by the CLG to the section 52 form from the DfES. 2002-03 saw a further break in the time series following the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) to schools and the associated restructuring of the outturn tables. 7. The calculation for 2005-06 onwards is broadly similar to the calculation in 1997-98. However, 1997-98 includes all premature retirement compensation (PRC) and Crombie payments, mandatory PRC payments and other indirect employee expenses whereas in 2005-06 only the schools element of these categories is included. Also, for some local authorities, expenditure that had previously been attributed to the school sectors was reported within the central local authority expenditure part of the form in 2005-06 and would therefore be excluded from the 2005-06 unit cost. 8. All data is subject to change by the local authority. 9. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.

Statistics

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on how many occasions in the last five years the publication date of statistics produced by his Department has been changed; what the  (a) subject of the statistics,  (b) (i) original and (ii) final date of publication and  (c) reason for the delay was in each case; and who took the decision to delay the publication in each case.

Jim Knight: In accordance with the National Statistics Code of Practice (2002), the Head of Profession for Statistics in the Department for Education and Skills has sole responsibility for determining, pre-announcing and, if necessary, altering the dates of publication of "National Statistics" and other relevant statistics produced by the Department.
	Any decision to change a pre-announced publication date will be based on a range of professional considerations such as the completeness of the underlying data, their fitness for purpose, the need for consistency and coherence, the need to promote widespread access and informed debate, or any earlier accidental or wrongful release. In reaching a decision, the Head of Profession will also take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the "National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices". The Head of Profession has published a statement describing how the Department's release practices comply with the Release Practice Protocol. This can be accessed at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/compliance06.pdf The code and its 12 supporting protocols are available in the Library of the House, and can also be accessed using the following address: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp
	There have been only 27 occasions from a total of 322 publications in the last five years when the Head of Profession has changed a pre-announced publication date. The details are as follows:
	
		
			  Subject of the statistics  The original publication date  Final date of publication  Reason for the delay  Who took the decision to delay 
			 SFR: GCSE/GNVQ and GCE A/AS Level Performance of Candidates Attempting two or more GCE A Levels or AS Equivalents: 2000/01 27 March 2002 25 April 2002 Due to the time taken to quality assure the charts and tables Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Pupil Progress in Secondary Schools by School Type in England: 2001 March 2002 17 June 2002 Discussions with users about the proposed content of the publication have took longer than expected Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Adult Education Enrolments in England: November 2001 22 May 2002 4 July 2002 Record of reason is no longer available Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Statistics of Education Schools in England 2002 Edition September 2002 28 October 2002 Due to quality assurance of the tables taking longer than expected Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England: January 2002 October 2002 17 December 2002 Due to our own quality assurance processes revealing discrepancies with the data Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: GCSE/GNVQ and GCE/VCE A/AS Results for Young People in England (Provisional Statistics) December 2002 January 2003 for the GCSE/GNVQ element and March 2003 for the GCE/VCE A/AS element This publication was based on the data that underpins the Secondary School Performance Tables. As a result of the delay to the 2002 Performance Tables, the SFR had to be delayed until early 2003 Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Statistics of Education: Teachers in England 2002 Edition (including teachers pay in England and Wales) December 2002 30 January 2003 The preparation of the publication was delayed because of other work priorities, and staff shortages Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Class Sizes and Pupil: Teacher Ratios in England 2002 January 2003 20 February 2003 The preparation of the publication was delayed because of other work priorities, and staff shortages Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Adult Education Enrolments in England: November 2002 March 2003 15 May 2003 The release was delayed because of the lateness of returns from some local education authorities and the need for further quality assurance of the dataset to be completed Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: GCSE/GNVQ and GCE A/AS/VCEs level performance of candidates attempting two or more GCE A levels/VCEs or AS Equivalents in 2001/02 April 2003 29 May 2003 Due to the delay in publication of the post-16 performance tables. The final performance tables dataset was not available week beginning 17 March 2003; therefore the Bulletin followed at a later date Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Statistics of Education: Vocational Qualifications in the UK: 2001/02 29 May 2003 26 June 2003 Due to problems with data from one Awarding Body on the National Information System for Vocational Qualifications (NISVQ) Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: National Curriculum Assessments of 7 and 11 year olds in England 2002 (This publication is only available on the internet) June 2003 October 2003 However, instead of being published as a separate bulletin, extra tables were added to the provisional SFRs Delayed in order to incorporate final information on pupil performance in 2002 taken from the National Pupil Database in June 2003 Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 3, GCSE/GNVQ Examination Results and Associated Value Added Measures in England 2001/02 (This publication is only available on the internet) June 2003 October 2003 However, instead of being published as a separate bulletin, extra tables were added to the provisional SFRs Delayed in order to incorporate final information on pupil performance in 2002 taken from the National Pupil Database in June 2003 Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year Olds in England: 2001 and 2002 June 2003 20 November 2003 The publication was delayed to allow further quality assurance of the underlying data Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: School Workforce in England (including pupil teacher ratios and pupil adults ratios) January 2003 (Revised) August 2003 9 September 2003 Due to a change in priorities, this statistical first release was released in September Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Information and Communications Technology in Schools in England: 2003 September 2003 30 October 2003 Delayed until October 2003 because of other work priorities and staff shortages Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom 2001/02 (Prepared and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in consultation with DfES statisticians) 25 September 2003 23 October 2003 Delayed due to printing difficulties Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Bulletin: Participation in Education and Training by 16 and 17 Year Olds in Each Local Area in England: 2004 (internet only) December 2003 26 February 2004 Delayed to allow further quality assurance of the underlying data. The delay was also due to the knock-on effect of the delay to the publication of the national participation estimates Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Statistics of Education: School Workforce in England 2003 Edition December 2003 20 January 2004 Delayed because of other work priorities and to allow for the inclusion of up-to-date figures on initial teaching training Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: National Curriculum Assessments and GCSE/GNVQ attainment by pupil characteristics, in England 2002 (Final) and 2003 (Provisional) January 2004 24 February 2004 Delayed in order to incorporate a later version of the 2003 data. Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Qualification and Participation in learning at a local level: England 2002/03 April 2004 11 May 2004 The original publication date was dependent on receiving the dataset for the Local Labour Force Survey from ONS in February. ONS were unable to provide the dataset for analysis until the end of March Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Statistics of Education: School Workforce in England 2004 Edition September 2004 27 January 2005 As an interim measure, an update to SFR 09/2004 was released in September. This included revised national and regional tables together with LEA level tables Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Children looked after in England (including adoptions and care leavers): 2003-04 October 2004 17 November 2004 Delayed due to problems related with the implementation of a new data collection system Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England: January 2005 (Final) August 2005 28 September 2005 The date of publication was deferred until September to allow further quality assurance of the sub-national data to be carried out Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 Value Added Measures in England 2004/05 (Revised) November 2005 1 December 2005 The slight delay was due to the additional time needed to finalise the SFR that included some new features. For example, confidence intervals quoted alongside the key stage 1 to key stage 2 Value Added (VA) measures Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 Volume: Statistics of Education: School Workforce in England 2005 Edition (including teachers' pay for England and Wales) December 2005 26 January 2006 The volume had been rescheduled to January from December. The slight delay was due to a combination of other competing work pressures and the need to incorporate the latest data from external sources Head of Profession for Statistics 
			 SFR: National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England 2005 February 2006 1 March 2006 This SFR was originally planned for publication in late February 2006. However, its release was delayed until early March to allow for additional quality assurance Head of Profession for Statistics

Afghanistan: Apache AH-64 Helicopter

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what technical problems have delayed the deployment of Apache helicopters to Afghanistan.

Des Browne: There has been no delay in the deployment of Apache Helicopters to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Peace Keeping Operations

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Desert Hawk mini-unmanned aerial vehicles have been  (a) lost and  (b) damaged beyond repair in Afghanistan.

Des Browne: A total of 15 Desert Hawk (1+ variant) Air Vehicles have been lost on operations in Afghanistan in the period up to 24 April 2007. In the same period, one Desert Hawk Air Vehicle has been damaged Beyond Economic Repair.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average tour interval is of  (a) 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh,  (b) 1st Battalion the Scots Guards,  (c) 19th Regiment Royal Artillery,  (d) 5th Regiment Royal Artillery and  (e) 39th Regiment Royal Artillery.

Adam Ingram: pursuant to the reply, 18 May 200 7 , Official Report, c. 981-82W
	The table provided was incorrect and should have read as follows:
	The recent average tour intervals for the Army units listed are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Regiment  Operational deployments  Tour interval (months)  Date  Average (months) 
			 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh Unit deployed to:
			  Northern Ireland (June to November 2001) 29 December 2001 to April 2004 18 
			  Iraq (May to October 2004) 10 November 2004 to August 2005  
			  Northern Ireland (September 2005 to January 2006) Theatre Reserve Battalion (May 2007 to May 2008) 15 February 2006 to April 2007  
			  
			 1st Battalion the Scots Guards Unit deployed to:
			  Northern Ireland (May to November 2001) 35 December 2001 to October 2004 30 
			  Iraq (November 2004 to April 2005) (1)24 May 2005 to May 2007  
			  
			 19th Regiment Royal Artillery Unit deployed to:
			  Iraq (May to November 2005) Afghanistan (May to October 2007) 17 December 2005 to April 2007 17 
			  
			 39th Regiment Royal Artillery Unit deployed to:
			  Northern Ireland (November 2002 to May 2003) Cyprus (October 2006 to April 2007) 40 June 2003 to September 2006 40 
			  Now deploying as subunits in support of operations
			  
			 5th Regiment Royal Artillery Deployed as subunits in support of operations to Operation Telic, Operation Herrick and Northern Ireland n/a n/a n/a 
			 (1 )To date 
		
	
	All tour intervals are calculated by units rather than subunits. We are unable to calculate tour intervals for 5 Regiment Royal Artillery.

Armed Forces: Housing

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the  (a) availability and  (b) adequacy of accommodation for phase 3 of the Army Recruiting and Training Division draft Man Plan 2007; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: The Army Recruiting and Training Division (ARTD) maintains a running assessment of the volume, standard and availability of its accommodation. Based on current, predicted patterns of attendance, this is assessed to be sufficient to deliver phase 3 Training in Financial Year 2007-08. Army accommodation, including that in ARTD, is subject to ongoing upgrade programmes.

Armed Forces: Housing

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was charged for damages to occupants of Modern Housing Solutions housing in each financial year since 1997.

Derek Twigg: Modern Housing Solutions has been responsible for maintenance of Service Families Accommodation in England and Wales only since 2006.
	Relevant records of charges since 1997 are not held centrally and service housing has been subject to changes of organisation. It will take a little time to determine what details are available and in what form. Once our inquiries are complete, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Housing

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Occupant's Handbook will be made available to occupants of Modern Housing Solutions housing.

Derek Twigg: It is planned that the Occupants Handbook will be issued to occupants of Service Families Accommodation (SFA) worldwide during the summer. It applies to all occupants of SFA and is not limited to those properties maintained in England and Wales by Modern Housing Solutions.

Defence Equipment: Training

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints were registered in each of the last five years about equipment during training exercises.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 16 May 2007
	The MOD greatly values and actively encourages feedback from personnel on how equipment is performing, so that lessons can be learnt and improvements made where a need is identified. There are a number of ways available for members of the armed forces to raise issues, faults and suggestions for improvement to equipment, but there is no requirement to collate and hold such information centrally.
	Data are, however, held on equipment failure reports (EFRs) and this, for equipment on training exercises in each of the last five years, is shown in the following table. EFRs are however not technically complaints; they are the reporting mechanism used by units for routine equipment support issues. The data does not account for the results of subsequent investigations and therefore does not differentiate between what has subsequently been found to be an equipment failure, as opposed to operator error or damage sustained as a result of an accident. Nor does this data give the severity of any such failures, which in many cases have no discernable impact on operational capability or safety.
	Moreover, these figures cover almost 800 different types of equipment, ranging from Challenger2 tanks down to wrist watches, and need to be viewed in the context of the huge volume of equipment used annually on training exercises.
	
		
			   Number of EFRs 
			 2002 2,369 
			 2003 1,342 
			 2004 2,749 
			 2005 1,989 
			 2006 1,952

Iraq: Airports

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Main Estimates 2007-08 (HC 438), if he will place in the Library a copy of the undertakings given to the Iraqi Ministry of Transport in relation to the provision of his Department's support services for the opening of Basra airport.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 16 May 2007
	The UK contingent of the Multinational Force in Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Iraqi Ministry of Transport in December 2006, covering the services to be provided by each party towards the ongoing commercial operation of Basra international airport.
	We will make public the text of this MOU subject to obtaining the consent of the Iraqi government as the co-signatory. I will write to the right hon. Member to inform him of their decision and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 8 May 2007,  Official Report, columns 63-64W, on Iraq: peacekeeping operations, if he will break down the number of attacks in each province by month.

Des Browne: The number of attacks in each province by month is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Province  Month  Attacks on MNF 
			 Al Muthanna June 2006 3 
			  July 2006 10 
			  August 2006 7 
			  September 2006 1 
			  October 2006 3 
			  November 2006 1 
			  December 2006 0 
			  January 2007 0 
			  February 2007 0 
			  March 2007 0 
			  April 2007 0 
			
			 Basrah June 2006 41 
			  July 2006 92 
			  August 2006 80 
			  September 2006 121 
			  October 2006 172 
			  November 2006 177 
			  December 2006 257 
			  January 2007 227 
			  February 2007 334 
			  March 2007 243 
			  April 2007 93 
			
			 Dhi Qar June 2006 2 
			  July 2006 2 
			  August 2006 8 
			  September 2006 4 
			  October 2006 3 
			  November 2006 3 
			  December 2006 2 
			  January 2007 1 
			  February 2007 2 
			  March 2007 4 
			  April 2007 5 
			
			 Maysan June 2006 18 
			  July 2006 18 
			  August 2006 21 
			  September 2006 2 
			  October 2006 4 
			  November 2006 3 
			  December 2006 1 
			  January 2007 3 
			  February 2007 4 
			  March 2007 1 
			  April 2007 1 
		
	
	The figures for the period between 1 June 2006 and 14 April 2007 includes incidents that involved some use of improvised explosive devices, rockets, mortars, rocket propelled grenades, grenades, small arms or other weapons such as petrol bombs or knives, but not the throwing of stones. Each record is not specifically verified and so cannot be guaranteed to be completely accurate.
	The table does not convey the significance of each individual incident, which may range from a single shot fired at safe range through to complex improvised explosive device attacks.
	The overall level of attacks in Basra province increased up until February 2007; this reflects the increased operational tempo which included Operation SINBAD and targeted search and detention operations. The increased MNF presence in and around the city and direct confrontation with militia contributed to the higher levels of attack.

Iraq: Peace Keeping Operations

Robert Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what advice and assistance is planned to be made available for soldiers of the 2nd Lancashire Regiment on their return from their tour of duty in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 24 May 2007
	The 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Borders) (2 LANCS) have had a demanding tour of duty in Iraq. The support that members of the Battalion will receive will reflect this, and will be in line with that which is available to all units returning from operations. This support is designed specifically to help individuals deal with their experiences and to enable them to make the transition back to a normal pattern of life as smoothly as possible.
	Immediately prior to their return to the United Kingdom, members of the Battalion will undergo a "decompression" period. This will be a time for relaxation with comrades in a controlled and monitored environment. Briefings on coping with stress and dealing with issues that might arise on homecoming will also be available. A community psychiatric nurse and Padre will also be available throughout this period.
	On return to the United Kingdom, there will be a period of normalisation within barracks and with families. This will include events such as social functions, sports events, health awareness briefings, Commander's Welfare Seminar and a medals parade. The Battalion will then depart on Post Operational Tour Leave (POTL). On return from POTL further briefings on the effects of stress, how to recognise them and how to deal with them will be provided.
	It is the chain of command's responsibility to identify and monitor those vulnerable to any form of post-operational stress, or stress related condition. Individuals who appear to be suffering from stress related conditions will be referred to the Army medical services for assessment and support where necessary. Army welfare support will also be available.

RAF St Athan

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent progress has been made on agreements between his Department, Metrix and the National Assembly for Wales in relation to  (a) the final package of proposals for the St. Athan site and  (b) a date for the submission of a planning application for the Defence Training Establishment; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: An announcement was made in January this year by the Secretary-of State that the Metrix Consortium had been selected as preferred bidder for package one and provisional preferred bidder for package two for the Defence Training Review Programme. Since the announcement work has focused on developing a whole programme solution (WPS). Good progress has been made and negotiations with Metrix are ongoing. As part of this work the Department is working with officials of the Welsh Assembly Government to confirm the most suitable master plan for the St. Athan site. However, until this work is concluded a date for submission of a planning application for the Defence Training Establishment cannot be finalised. An announcement on a WPS, however, is expected to be made later this year.

RFA Fort Victoria

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when RFA Fort Victoria will be rejoining the fleet.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 24 May 2007
	RFA Fort Victoria has not left the Fleet. She remains within the Fleet operational cycle.

Arson

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of total insured fire losses arson accounted for in each of the last five years.

Angela Smith: The information requested is not available centrally. The Department's economic cost of fire model uses information on total insured fire losses provided by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). ABI data distinguishes between domestic and commercial fire losses, but does not differentiate between arson and non-arson fires. The cost of fire model uses the proportion of fires that are due to arson to estimate the percentage of insured losses that are due to arson.

Homelessness

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were classified as falling into the category used in the Answer of 13 December 2002,  Official Report, column 702W, homeless households accepted as eligible unintentionally homeless and in priority need by local authorities in each of the last five years.

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected in respect of households rather than persons. The number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed the main homelessness duty, is published in our quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, which is placed in the Library each quarter, and is also available on our website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2369
	The number of homeless acceptances for the last five years can be found in Table 1 (note that the acceptance figures provided in the Answer of 13 December 2002 have since been revised).
	The duty owed to a household accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.

Local Government Finance: Coastal Areas

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans her Department has to provide for the additional social costs of higher than average aged populations of the larger coastal urban areas.

Phil Woolas: Older peoples' social services are funded by general formula grant and from councils own revenues raised from council tax or fees and charges. We take account of the relative needs of different areas to provide older people's social services during the calculation of formula grant.
	Within the calculation of formula grant, there is a relative needs formula for older people's social services. The resident population are the main driver of the formula with additional elements to take into account other factors related to need, including the number of very elderly people in each area.
	The formula is calculated using data on the number of people aged 65 and over resident in each area, and pensioners living alone, over 65's in receipt of pension credit and attendance allowance, pensioners who live in rented accommodation and those aged 90 and over in each area.
	We expect to update the data we use in the relative needs formulae for the 2008-09 settlement, where possible. This will ensure that the calculations reflect changes in demographic and other trends in each local authority.

Regeneration: Coastal Areas

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will undertake research to further the understanding of the common characteristics of factors affecting coastal towns.

Phil Woolas: Officials from the Department took part in a conference on coastal towns hosted by the Department of Trade & Industry on 8 May. This looked at whether there are issues common to coastal towns that need to be addressed, and what is the best policy approach, if any, for tackling the perceived problems.
	In the light of this, the Government will consider the need to examine further the evidence on the characteristics of coastal towns to help inform policy making. This position is set out in the Government response to the Communities and Local Government Committee report on coastal towns laid before the House on 18 May.

Cemeteries

John Mann: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice 
	(1)  how many cases of  (a) successful and  (b) unsuccessful litigation there have been related to injuries and deaths caused by falling gravestones and memorials in council graveyards in the last 20 years;
	(2)  how many complaints there have been of unsafe gravestones and memorials in council graveyards in the last 20 years;
	(3)  how many church graveyards were safety inspected in  (a) 2006 and  (b) 2007;
	(4)  how many deaths there were in council graveyards in each of the last 20 years  (a) in total and  (b) from falling gravestones and memorials;
	(5)  how many council graveyards had areas closed for safety reasons during  (a) 2006 and  (b) 2007;
	(6)  how many non-members of the National Association of Monumental Masons are authorised to test and repair gravestones in council graveyards.

Harriet Harman: The information requested is not held or collated centrally. Responsibility for the management and safety of council burial grounds, including the competence of those authorised to test and repair gravestones, lies with individual burial authorities.
	Recent advice to burial authorities has stressed the need for great sensitivity and careful planning in the way any memorials are tested or made safe.

Cemeteries

John Mann: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice 
	(1)  what involvement the National Association of Monument Masons had in determining standards of health and safety in council graveyards;
	(2)  which external bodies were consulted over the system of gravestone testing now operated by local authorities.

Harriet Harman: I understand that the National Association of Memorial Masons were one of the bodies represented on the Technical Committee responsible for the preparation of the relevant British Standards Institution specifications published in 2005.
	It is for individual local authorities to determine what testing of gravestones should be undertaken. Detailed advice and guidance on memorial and safety standards has been issued by various professional and representative bodies, including the National Association of Memorial Masons.

Divorce

Maria Miller: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many  (a) pension sharing orders and  (b) divorces were granted in each month since December 2000.

Harriet Harman: The following table contains data taken from the Family Man computer system in the county courts of England and Wales between January 2001 and December 2006. The data shows the number of pension sharing orders and the number of decrees of dissolution of marriage recorded as having been made in that period. The significant increase in the number of pension sharing orders recorded from April 2004 onwards is the result of a change in the way the information was recorded. Prior to this, a certain category of ancillary relief orders was recorded in such a way that pension sharing orders could not be separately identified.
	
		
			  Number of  p ension  s haring and  d ivorces 
			   Total sharing orders  Total divorces 
			Divorce petitions  Decrees nisi  Decrees absolute 
			  2001 
			 January 3 14,187 13,057 13,682 
			 February 5 15,016 13,077 9,716 
			 March 8 16,066 13,955 11,998 
			 April 3 13,282 13,109 11,343 
			 May 6 14,341 13,162 12,176 
			 June 16 14,831 13,206 11,938 
			 July 21 14,853 14,623 11,775 
			 August 15 14,988 14,294 12,025 
			 September 24 12,929 13,767 11,449 
			 October 41 16,176 14,730 13,197 
			 November 32 15,342 14,392 12,945 
			 December 26 10,330 11,771 9,991 
			  
			  2002 
			 January 43 14,550 14,717 14,176 
			 February 40 15,373 13,519 10,005 
			 March 77 15,385 14,141 11,365 
			 April 106 15,309 13,477 13,191 
			 May 130 16,449 15,509 13,189 
			 June 77 12,418 12,298 10,904 
			 July 183 16,041 15,461 13,015 
			 August 123 14,759 13,769 12,188 
			 September 134 14,485 13,896 12,738 
			 October 226 16,553 15,751 13,308 
			 November 214 14,996 15,013 12,436 
			 December 196 10,906 13,429 10,947 
			  
			  2003 
			 January 177 14,627 14,621 15,605 
			 February 213 15,421 13,227 11,133 
			 March 234 16,164 14,504 12,817 
			 April 210 13,401 14,824 12,507 
			 May 287 13,712 13,303 13,189 
			 June 214 14,991 14,241 12,944 
			 July 264 15,475 15,150 13,667 
			 August 189 13,314 13,544 11,452 
			 September 232 14,740 13,873 13,081 
			 October 303 16,414 15,055 13,740 
			 November 311 13,417 13,177 12,078 
			 December 272 11,589 12,518 12,079 
			  
			  2004 
			 January 280 12,912 14,045 14,077 
			 February 257 15,319 12,943 11,564 
			 March 377 17,185 15,647 13,902 
			 April 890 13,576 13,973 12,577 
			 May 980 12,869 13,043 12,102 
			 June 1,055 14,567 14,493 13,352 
			 July 979 14,335 14,290 13,395 
			 August 1,020 13,604 14,971 12,206 
			 September 988 14,024 14,301 13,568 
			 October 949 13,712 12,746 12,685 
			 November 1,030 14,392 14,760 13,012 
			 December 913 10,845 11,122 11,347 
			  
			  2005 
			 January 911 10,988 13,374 13,558 
			 February 963 13,327 12,160 10,646 
			 March 975 13,568 13,605 12,206 
			 April 874 13,531 12,252 12,674 
			 May 924 12,147 12,731 11,055 
			 June 1,052 13,766 13,688 12,871 
			 July 981 12,247 12,802 11,726 
			 August 971 13,053 13,192 12,028 
			 September 877 13,170 12,410 12,194 
			 October 884 12,926 11,768 11,319 
			 November 1,012 13,588 12,788 11,908 
			 December 801 9,513 10,147 10,327 
			  
			  2006 
			 January 833 11,399 12,974 11,783 
			 February 880 12,615 11,773 10,142 
			 March 988 14,694 13,467 12,514 
			 April 724 10,775 11,757 10,143 
			 May 783 12,666 11,897 11,564 
			 June 916 13,228 12,105 11,452 
			 July 805 11,974 11,889 10,678 
			 August 804 12,922 12,155 11,413 
			 September 844 12,568 11,780 10,999 
			 October 841 13,112 12,565 11,275 
			 November 927 13,394 11,985 11,807 
			 December 750 9,217 10,895 9,387 
			  35,693 990,558 964,653 873,445

Elections: Internet

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing internet voting for  (a) general and  (b) council elections.

Bridget Prentice: The Government are firmly committed to increasing participation in the electoral process. Since 2000 we have supported 23 internet voting pilot schemes at selected local authority elections, which have allowed us to consider the benefits of new voting channels.
	The independent Electoral Commission is responsible for evaluating each scheme, and the Government have considered the Commission's findings in the development of its policy on electronic voting. We have not reached a firm decision on whether or not to roll out electronic voting beyond local election pilot schemes, but the evaluation of this year's pilot schemes will inform my Department's ongoing assessment.

Legal Advice and Assistance: Armed Forces

Roger Gale: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice if she will bring forward proposals to improve the legal advice and service available to bereaved service families; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: Funding for representation at most inquests is out of the usual scope of legal aid because of the inquisitorial nature and greater informality of the process in the coroner's courts. Legal help is, however, available subject to financial eligibility (and other usual tests set out in the Legal Services Commission's funding code) and this would cover all preparatory work, which may include drafting written submissions to the coroner. I met the Armed Forces Minister (Mr. Ingram) on 18 April to discuss a range of ways in which bereaved military families could be supported. Details of the support to families will be set out in a written ministerial statement to be issued shortly.

Prisoner Escapes

Edward Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many prisoners absconded from HMP  (a) East Sutton Park and  (b) Askham Grange in each year since 1997; and how many remain at large.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is set out in the following table and covers the period from 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007. Figures for 2006-07 are provisional and subject to validation. Currently there is no central record of absconders who are subsequently returned to custody. Recaptures reflect police rather than Prison Service performance and the data has not been held centrally for this reason.
	
		
			  Number of absconds from East Sutton Park prison and Askham Grange prison between 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007 
			   East Sutton Park  Askham Grange 
			 1997-98 5 35 
			 1998-99 3 17 
			 1999-2000 3 20 
			 2000-01 3 21 
			 2001-02 3 19 
			 2002-03 0 12 
			 2003-04 1 31 
			 2004-05 2 12 
			 2005-06 4 14 
			 2006-07 2 7

Prisoner Escapes

Edward Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many prisoners absconded from HMP  (a) Ford and  (b) Hewell Grange in each year since 1997; and how many of those remain at large.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is set out in the following table and covers the period from 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007. Figures for 2006-07 are provisional and subject to validation. Currently there is no central record of absconders who are subsequently returned to custody. Recaptures reflect police rather than Prison Service performance and the data has not been held centrally for this reason.
	
		
			  Number of absconds from Ford prison and Hewell Grange prison between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2007 
			   Ford  Hewell Grange 
			 1997-98 53 40 
			 1998-99 40 17 
			 1999-2000 68 32 
			 2000-01 57 20 
			 2001-02 57 15 
			 2002-03 91 23 
			 2003-04 142 31 
			 2004-05 110 24 
			 2005-06 96 24 
			 2006-07 62 13

Prisoner Escapes

Edward Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many prisoners absconded from  (a) HM Prison Hollesley Bay and  (b) HM Prison Kirkham in each year since 1997; and how many of those in each case remain at large.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The information requested is set out in the following table and covers the period from 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007. Figures for 2006-07 are provisional and subject to validation. Currently there is no central record of absconders who are subsequently returned to custody. Recaptures reflect police rather than Prison Service performance and the data has not been held centrally for this reason.
	
		
			  Number of absconds from Hollesley Bay prison and Kirkham prison between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2007 
			   Hollesley Bay  Kirkham 
			 1997-98 13 234 
			 1998-99 25 202 
			 1999-2000 11 171 
			 2000-01 24 169 
			 2001-02 8 163 
			 2002-03 14 208 
			 2003-04 36 213 
			 2004-05 32 120 
			 2005-06 16 74 
			 2006-07 21 54

Prisoners: Costs

Michael Jack: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the  (a) energy cost and  (b) average number of prisoners per annum was in each prison for which her Department has responsibility in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Figures on energy costs in each prison establishment within England and Wales and the average numbers of prisoners within prison establishments in England and Wales can be found in the following table.
	The figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			  Annual average population of prison establishments in England and Wales 2004-06 
			   2004  2005  2006 
			 Acklington 862 869 838 
			 Albany 514 522 524 
			 Altcourse(1) 984 937 1,002 
			 Ashfield(1) 286 314 363 
			 Ashwell 529 541 539 
			 Askham Grange 122 99 113 
			 Aylesbury 355 406 438 
			 Bedford 484 477 478 
			 Belmarsh(1) 907 906 918 
			 Birmingham 1,384 1,400 1,440 
			 Blakenhurst(1) 869 1,012 1,054 
			 Blantyre House 117 117 120 
			 Blundestone 457 457 460 
			 Brinsford(1) 451 452 469 
			 Bristol(1) 587 597 600 
			 Brixton 821 804 804 
			 Brockhill(1) 136 124 124 
			 Bronzefield(1) 176 421 423 
			 Buckley Hall 319 254 350 
			 Bullingdon(1) 950 962 958 
			 Bullwood Hall(1) 151 145 144 
			 Camp Hill 568 582 584 
			 Canterbury 302 296 285 
			 Cardiff 685 743 744 
			 Castington(1) 343 367 374 
			 Channings Wood 648 654 655 
			 Chelmsford(1) 572 580 579 
			 Coldingley 384 386 388 
			 Cookham Wood(1) 142 167 181 
			 Dartmoor 606 613 614 
			 Deerbolt 455 407 416 
			 Doncaster(1) 1,104 1,076 1,105 
			 Dorchester(1) 226 240 250 
			 Dovegate 845 799 831 
			 Dover 270 283 278 
			 Downview(1) 210 249 340 
			 Drake Hall(1) 283 284 269 
			 Durham* 691 717 872 
			 East Sutton Park(1) 96 96 91 
			 Eastwood Park(1) 292 288 326 
			 Edmunds Hill(1) 173 181 351 
			 Elmley(1) 959 979 983 
			 Erlestoke 417 420 424 
			 Everthorpe 459 544 660 
			 Exeter 516 515 506 
			 Featherstone 607 606 608 
			 Feltham(1) 654 605 612 
			 Ford 513 520 445 
			 Forest Bank(1) 1,017 1,029 1,036 
			 Foston Hall(1) 226 219 232 
			 Frankland 668 707 705 
			 Full Sutton 601 595 576 
			 Garth 653 649 612 
			 Gartree 407 448 521 
			 Glen Parva(1) 733 772 783 
			 Gloucester 300 283 297 
			 Grendon/Spring Hill(1) 528 526 536 
			 Guys Marsh(1) 544 557 567 
			 Haslar 119 132 144 
			 Haverigg 553 549 561 
			 Hewell Grange 163 161 160 
			 Highdown(1) 741 735 742 
			 Highpoint 804 799 810 
			 Hindley(1) 482 399 424 
			 Hollesley Bay(1) 276 273 272 
			 Holloway(1) 427 436 444 
			 Holme House(1) 957 970 977 
			 Hull(1) 1,060 1,020 986 
			 Huntercombe 353 348 349 
			 Kingston (Portsmouth) 137 173 192 
			 Kirkham 522 495 451 
			 Kirklevington 220 219 221 
			 Lancaster 210 238 236 
			 Lancaster Farms(1) 495 505 514 
			 Latchmere House 196 201 184 
			 Leeds 1,235 1,221 1,135 
			 Leicester 364 348 339 
			 Lewes(1) 499 523 534 
			 Leyhill 489 480 366 
			 Lincoln 453 467 471 
			 Lindholme(1) 693 782 883 
			 Littlehey 691 696 692 
			 Liverpool 1,405 1,351 1,311 
			 Long Lartin 429 438 437 
			 Low Newton(1) 303 254 258 
			 Lowdham Grange 517 505 535 
			 Maidstone 543 546 576 
			 Manchester 1,227 1,235 1,237 
			 Moorland Open(1) 237 231 237 
			 Moorland(1) 753 755 766 
			 Morton Hall 333 293 330 
			 New Hall(1) 353 343 348 
			 North Sea Camp 277 284 265 
			 Northallerton 216 177 219 
			 Norwich(1) 735 778 746 
			 Nottingham 504 503 509 
			 Onley(1) 474 510 579 
			 Parc(1) 1,001 987 1,032 
			 Parkhurst(1) 485 503 504 
			 Pentonville 1,201 1,179 1,084 
			 Peterborough — 477 830 
			 Portland(1) 454 409 479 
			 Preston 641 595 641 
			 Ranby 842 981 1,025 
			 Reading(1) 261 275 278 
			 Risley 1,055 1,059 1,072 
			 Rochester 324 381 386 
			 Rye Hill 655 591 594 
			 Send 213 212 209 
			 Shepton Mallet 185 182 185 
			 Shrewsbury 315 285 332 
			 Stafford 658 673 672 
			 Standford Hill 436 445 420 
			 Stocken 616 612 614 
			 Stoke Heath(1) 636 633 644 
			 Styal(1) 402 392 435 
			 Sudbury 543 545 542 
			 Swaleside 773 775 776 
			 Swansea 328 410 414 
			 Swinfen Hall(1) 377 542 607 
			 The Mount 742 700 717 
			 The Verne 576 582 581 
			 The Weare 364 171 — 
			 The Wolds 352 301 319 
			 Thorn Cross(1) 257 241 238 
			 Usk/Prescoed(1) 406 413 403 
			 Wakefield 554 553 708 
			 Wandsworth 1,451 1,435 1,466 
			 Warren Hill(1) 204 202 210 
			 Wayland 693 697 697 
			 Wealstun(1) 642 783 794 
			 Wellingborough 516 550 607 
			 Werrington 138 130 145 
			 Wetherby(1) 306 334 339 
			 Whatton 354 354 636 
			 Whitemoor 425 438 444 
			 Winchester(1) 628 674 700 
			 Woodhill(1) 770 762 767 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 1,239 1,234 1,243 
			 Wymott 975 1,041 1,043 
			 Total 74,657 75,979 78,127 
			 Police cells   22 
			 (1 )denotes establishments used for more than one purpose  Note: Components will not add up to totals because they have been compiled and rounded independently.

Prisons: Smuggling

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the maximum penalty is for trafficking unauthorised articles into prison establishments; how many people were convicted of this offence in each of the last five years; what average sentence was imposed; and if she will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Trafficking unauthorised articles into prison establishments is not listed as a separate offence on the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
	The data provided in the following table gives total number of defendants found guilty of selected offences under the Prison Act 1952, a sentence breakdown, the average custodial sentence length and average fine for both sets of offences as set out in the note of the table. Maximum penalties are also shown with this note.
	
		
			  Number of defendants found guilty at all courts, sentence breakdown, average custodial sentence lengths, and average fines for selected offences under the 1952 Prison Act, England and Wales, 2001 to 2005( 1,2) 
			   Sentence breakdown 
			   Found guilty  Sentenced  Absolute discharge  Conditional discharge  Fine  Community sentence  Immediate custody  Otherwise dealt with  Average custodial sentence (months)  Average fine (£) 
			 2001 23 23 — 2 20 — 1 — 3.0 117 
			 2002 20 20 — 1 14 1 4 — 9.0 100 
			 2003 18 17 1 5 9 1 1 — 4.0 161 
			 2004 8 8 — 1 6 1 — — n/a 259 
			 2005 17 17 — 3 9 2 2 1 18.0 116 
			 n/a = not applicable. (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Note: The above table shows data for the following two offences; The summary offence (195/46) comprises; Conveying spirits into prison, Conveying tobacco into prison, Attempting to convey spirits into prison, Attempting to convey tobacco into prison, Placing liquor/tobacco outside prison with intent, Office allowing liquor/tobacco to be sold, Office allowing liquor/tobacco to be used, Placing letter/thing outside prison with intent, Conveying an article to a prisoner and Attempting to convey an article to a prisoner. The maximum penalty for this offence is six months in prison and or a £1,000 fine. The indictable offence (099/99) comprises Aiding a prisoner to escape, Aiding a prisoner to attempt to escape, Conveying article to prisoner to facilitate escape, Placing article outside prison to facilitate escape and Sending article into prison or prisoner to facilitate escape. The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years in prison.

Probation

John Mann: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many community probation projects have been visited by Ministers from her Department in the last 12 months.

David Hanson: Since the creation of the Ministry of Justice on 9 May, Justice Ministers have made two visits to such projects. Before this, my right hon. and Learned Friend the Lord Chancellor made three such visits in the course of DCA business and my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State the Member for Bradford, South made four such visits in the course of Home Office business.

Young Offenders

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what estimate she has made of the number of young offenders with  (a) a drug dependency problem and  (b) a mental health problem.

Bridget Prentice: A survey carried out in 2001(1) reported that 76 per cent. of young offenders (aged 18 to 21) were dependent on at least one drug, as defined by the severity of dependence scale (SDS).
	Information about the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among young offenders can be found in Psychiatric Morbidity among Young Offenders in England and Wales, Office for National Statistics, 2000. Copies are available in the Library and on the Office of National Statistics website at
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/PyscMorbYoungOffenders97.pdf.
	 Source:
	(1) Borrill, J., Maden, A., Martin, A., Weaver, T., Stimson, G., Farrell, M. and Barnes, T. (2003) Differential substance misuse treatment needs of women, ethnic minorities and young offenders in prison: prevalence of substance misuse and treatment needs. Online report 33/03, Home Office.

Young Offenders: Dyspraxia

David Heyes: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what progress has been made in diagnosing dyspraxia and related conditions in young offender institutions since 1997.

Bridget Prentice: The commissioning responsibility for prison health services is now fully devolved to national health service primary care trusts. Referrals to specialist services, such as those for dyspraxia, are made on the basis of individual need as they are in the wider community.
	Since April 2005, all prisons provide health screening for first time receptions into custody. This new triage-based screening procedure consists of an initial short screen by health care staff to identify any immediate health issues. If a prisoner screens positive for one of four categories: mental health; suicide and self-harm; physical health; substance misuse; a further assessment using evidence based protocols will be carried out by an appropriate member of the primary care team. All prisoners are offered a further general health assessment in the week following reception.
	A health screen for specific use with children and young people is currently being piloted. One of the key purposes of this is to identify physical health, substance misuse and mental health needs within five days of intake resulting in a comprehensive health care plan shared by all healthcare staff.
	Dyspraxia can also be identified through the learning needs assessment screening all young offenders receive to assess their educational requirements.

Cyprus: Military Bases

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the land in the Dhekalia sovereign base in Cyprus is owned  (a) privately and  (b) by the UK Government.

Derek Twigg: I have been asked to reply.
	The sovereign base area of Dhekelia covers 50.5 square miles. Figures from 2003, the latest available, show the composition of land ownership at that time was as follows:
	
		
			   Percentage 
			 Private land 63.6 
			 UK Government land 36.4

Embassies: Telephone Services

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which non-premium rate telephone numbers are available to members of the public who wish to contact the British embassy in the United States.

Ian McCartney: Our embassy in Washington has two non-premium rate telephone numbers that are advertised to the general public. The embassy's main number is 202 588 6500, and the number of the embassy's consular section which is 202 588 7800. Both numbers are prefaced with recorded messages to help direct callers to the information that they need, including the website www.britainusa.com. The messages also point callers to the premium lines that have been established to deal with passport, visa and UK information inquiries. Callers with urgent consular inquiries, and those who wish to ask about UK nationality or registration, are asked to wait on the line and speak to a trained call-handler.

Galileo Project

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans she has to meet European foreign ministers to discuss the Galileo Global Positioning Satellite system.

Geoff Hoon: The Department for Transport leads the Government's involvement in the Galileo programme. My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport, Dr. Stephen Ladyman, is due to discuss Galileo with his counterparts at the next EU Transport Council in June.

Israel: Political Prisoners

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received on the arrest by Israel and subsequent release of Nasser Shaer in 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Nasser al Shaer was first arrested in June 2006 while serving as deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister in the Hamas Government. He was released later in September 2006. On 23 May, he was arrested with two Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council members. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised our concerns with Israeli Foreign Minister Livni on 28 May. We have called for all those detained to be either released or subject to the due legal process.

Antisocial Behaviour: Fixed Penalties

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Penalty Notices for Disorder issued in 2006 were registered as fines; and how many Penalty Notices for Disorder issued in  (a) 2004 and  (b) 2005 were paid (i) within the 21 day suspended enforcement period and (ii) outside the 21 day suspended enforcement period.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	Provisional data for 2006 on the number of Penalty Notices for Disorder is currently available only for total numbers PNDs issued; detailed data for 2006 will be available when the data are published in the summer.
	Data from the Penalty Notices for Disorder Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform show that in 2004, of the 33,078 PNDs which were paid in full, 24,126 were paid within the initial 21-day suspended enforcement period with the remaining 8,952 paid outside the suspended enforcement period. In 2005 there were 77,247 paid in full, with 56,823 paid within the initial 21-day suspended enforcement period and the remaining 20,424 paid outside the suspended enforcement period.

Crimes Against Property: Greater London

Bob Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of criminal damage were recorded in each London borough in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of such incidents led to a conviction in each year.

Vernon Coaker: The statistics are not available in the form requested. Recorded criminal damage statistics relate to offences and convictions data relates to offenders. In addition, recorded crime data are published on a financial year basis and conviction data are published on a calendar year basis. For these reasons, the two data sources are therefore not directly comparable.
	Figures for the number of offences recorded and the number of convictions are provided in the tables. Recorded crime data at borough level are only available from 2000-01.
	
		
			  Table 1: Recorded offences of criminal damage by London borough, 2000-01 and 2001-02 
			  Borough  2000-01  2001-02 
			 Barking and Dagenham 3,909 3,607 
			 Barnet 5,064 5,092 
			 Bexley 4,938 5,726 
			 Brent 4,349 4,520 
			 Bromley 5,791 5,994 
			 Camden 4,633 5,073 
			 City of Westminster 5,104 4,829 
			 Croydon 6,487 6,386 
			 Ealing 6,217 5,818 
			 Enfield 3,826 4,207 
			 Greenwich 5,057 5,046 
			 Hackney 4,828 4,898 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3,718 3,719 
			 Haringey 4,699 5,043 
			 Harrow 2,732 2,819 
			 Havering 3,855 4,317 
			 Hillingdon 5,083 5,790 
			 Hounslow 4,871 4,883 
			 Islington 4,658 4,632 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 2,529 2,431 
			 Kingston upon Thames 2,649 2,602 
			 Lambeth 6,384 6,509 
			 Lewisham 4,549 4,669 
			 Merton 3,508 3,420 
			 Newham 6,282 5,681 
			 Redbridge 3,750 4,135 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2,841 3,171 
			 Southwark 5,279 5,517 
			 Sutton 3,428 3,496 
			 Tower Hamlets 4,608 4,710 
			 Waltham Forest 3,623 4,038 
			 Wandsworth 4,795 4,874 
			 Total 144,042 147,652 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Recorded offences of criminal damage by London borough, 2002-05 to 2O05-06 
			  Borough  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Barking and Dagenham 3,495 4,066 3,874 3,953 
			 Barnet 5,066 5,273 4,690 4,410 
			 Bexley 4,563 4,843 4,720 4,682 
			 Brent 4,252 4,473 3,921 3,610 
			 Bromley 5,973 6,510 6,627 6,241 
			 Camden 5,280 4,899 4,053 3,723 
			 City of Westminster 4,725 4,464 3,925 3,247 
			 Croydon 5,657 5,737 5,474 5,079 
			 Ealing 5,258 5,661 4,679 4,816 
			 Enfield 4,414 4,675 4,278 3,946 
			 Greenwich 5,337 5,759 5,550 5,395 
			 Hackney 4,717 4,241 4,086 3,299 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3,450 3,168 2,950 2,492 
			 Haringey 4,885 4,731 4,393 3,861 
			 Harrow 2,694 2,660 2,644 2,222 
			 Havering 4,091 4,577 4,262 3,538 
			 Hillingdon 5,695 6,451 5,498 5,303 
			 Hounslow 5,248 4,642 4,414 3,904 
			 Islington 4,662 4,891 4,302 3,917 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 2,624 2,293 2,099 1,789 
			 Kingston upon Thames 2,738 3,093 2,835 2,785 
			 Lambeth 6,333 5,928 5,479 4,769 
			 Lewisham 4,152 4,446 4,643 4,562 
			 Merton 3,156 3,357 2,896 2,667 
			 Newham 5,701 5,721 4,450 4,286 
			 Redbridge 4,071 4,234 3,596 2,792 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3,278 2,834 3,234 3,020 
			 Southwark 5,777 6,030 5,414 3,892 
			 Sutton 3,174 3,524 3,904 3,170 
			 Tower Hamlets 5,278 5,036 4,427 3,720 
			 Waltham Forest 3,986 4,497 4,045 3,671 
			 Wandsworth 4,525 4,631 4,220 3,509 
			 Total 144,255 147,345 135,582 122,270 
			  Note:  1. The National Crime Recording standard was introduced in April 2002. Figures for earlier years are therefore not directly comparable. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Number of defendants found guilty at all courts of criminal damage, broken down by London court area, 1996 to 2005( 1,2) 
			  London Court Area  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			  City of London   
			
			 Guildhall Justice rooms 2 9 7 4 6 22 12 20 14 2 
			
			  Inner London Courts   
			 Bow Street 61 45 27 54 38 40 30 34 35 22 
			 Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge 90 137 171 201 129 127 133 151 143 121 
			 Greenwich and Woolwich 87 113 84 108 120 114 115 84 63 70 
			 Highbury Corner 157 153 152 122 98 72 76 125 106 70 
			 Horseferry Road 62 84 69 74 81 74 74 96 78 59 
			 Marylebone 38 49 48 61 15 5 4 4 3 5 
			 South Western 61 63 61 67 61 60 71 86 67 30 
			 Thames 34 42 9 119 91 91 78 70 70 69 
			 West London 32 74 81 63 86 77 95 93 87 55 
			 Inner London Juvenile Courts 110 14 1 — — — — — — — 
			 Total: Inner London 732 774 703 869 719 660 676 743 652 501 
			
			  Outer London Courts   
			 Barking and Dagenham 22 30 38 53 35 40 33 26 34 32 
			 Barnet 35 42 47 46 31 22 33 40 58 72 
			 Bexley 26 23 33 46 28 28 41 28 63 67 
			 Brent 34 39 45 45 36 26 24 21 24 17 
			 Bromley 25 36 27 21 18 27 32 22 45 35 
			 Croydon 40 63 78 49 75 63 71 49 70 73 
			 Ealing 34 58 66 40 25 31 33 33 33 19 
			 Enfield 26 42 44 29 30 22 29 17 23 30 
			 Haringey 42 50 42 58 41 32 39 35 24 23 
			 Harrow 24 21 31 28 11 25 26 13 17 27 
			 Havering 29 38 39 55 36 27 33 37 22 29 
			 Hillingdon 31 29 47 72 49 60 56 60 71 88 
			 Hounslow 44 56 72 61 52 42 43 22 26 16 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames 23 28 28 41 32 16 14 10 15 19 
			 Merton 26 38 46 39 36 34 38 46 38 46 
			 Newham 34 43 45 56 56 55 52 58 49 57 
			 Redbridge 21 47 36 43 32 23 20 19 28 20 
			 Richmond upon Thames 20 32 32 32 35 39 35 31 35 33 
			 Sutton 17 18 25 30 30 20 26 15 12 11 
			 Waltham Forest 44 60 53 44 38 37 23 30 13 23 
			 Total - Outer London 597 793 874 888 726 669 701 612 700 737 
			 Total - Greater London 1,331 1,576 1,584 1,761 1,451 1,351 1,389 1,375 1,366 1,240 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Office for criminal Justice Reform - ref IDS 234-07

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what research her Department  (a) has undertaken,  (b) plans to undertake and  (c) has evaluated on the long-term effects of abortion on women that drew on (i) UK and (ii) international research; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what research has been  (a) funded and  (b) carried out by her Department on the symptoms of post-abortion depression; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The safety and psychological effects of abortion, both immediate and longer-term, were considered by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in its updated evidence-based guideline, 'The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2004)', copies of which are available in the Library. In updating the guidance, the RCOG took account of the most recent national and international evidence. This is taken into account in the recommendations concerning information for women and abortion after care.
	The Department has no current plans to commission any research in this area, but keeps all new and emerging evidence under review.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Alcoholic Drinks

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of admissions to NHS accident and emergency departments were alcohol- related in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Caroline Flint: Information on attendances at accident and emergency departments (A&E) for alcohol related reasons is not held centrally. Listed as follows are admissions via accident and emergency to national health service hospitals in England for alcohol-related conditions. Also detailed are alcohol related admissions as a percentage of total admissions via A&E.
	Count of finished admission episodes where the patient was admitted via accident and emergency departments and count of finished admission episodes where the patient was admitted via accident and emergency with a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcohol-related illness for 2005-06.
	
		
			  NHS hospitals, England  2005-06 
			   Number 
			 Total admissions via A&E 3,387,499 
			 Admissions with alcohol-related illness via A&E 149,865 
			 Alcohol-related admissions as a percentage of total admissions via A&E 4.42 
			  Notes: These figures represent a count of all finished in year admission episodes where the method of admission was coded as 21 Emergency: via accident and emergency services, including the casualty department of the provider; or 28 Emergency: other means, including patients who arrive via the A and E department of another provider.  Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.  All diagnoses count of episodes These figures represent a count of all finished in-year admission episodes where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record.  Diagnosis (primary diagnosis) The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.  Secondary diagnoses As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 13 (six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. The following diagnosis codes were used: F10 Mental and Behavioural Disorders Due to Use of Alcohol; K70 Alcoholic Liver Disease; T51 Toxic Effect of Alcohol.  Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by over 300 NHS Trusts and primary care trusts in England. The Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Ungrossed data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).  Source:  HES, The Information Centre for health and social care.

Acute Hospital Services

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral answer of 24 April 2007,  Official Report, column 778, on acute hospital services, what cost was incurred by Surrey Primary Care Trust in employing the Matrix consultancy for the purposeof producing the document Squaring the Triangle on the reconfiguration of health services in Surrey; and whether she plans to visit the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford in 2007.

Caroline Flint: This is a matter for Surrey Primary Care Trust.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no current plans to visit the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford in 2007.

Aerials: Health Hazards

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what process is in place to continue to review the potential health impacts of mobile telephone masts; and what plans she has to report any changes in the scientific assessment.

Caroline Flint: The Health Protection Agency's Radiation Protection Division (HPA-RPD) continually monitors the health impact of mobile phone technologies. The research field was comprehensively reviewed in 'Health Effects from Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields - Report of an independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation' (Documents of the NRPB, Volume 14, No 2 2003).
	This report concludes. The weight of evidence now available does not suggest that there are adverse health effects from exposures to radiofrequency (RF) fields below guideline levels, but the published research on RF exposures and health has limitations, and mobile phones have only been in widespread use for a relatively short time. The possibility therefore remains open that there could be health effects from exposure to RF fields below guideline levels; hence continued research is needed.
	The report specifically mentions base stations (mobile telephone masts) saying exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low, and the overall evidence indicates that they are unlikely to pose a risk to health.
	The full report is available in the Library and also at the HPA website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/documents_of_nrpb/abstracts/absdl4-2.htm
	The mobile telecommunications health research programme, jointly funded by Government and industry, is due to report later this year. Many of the studies supported under this programme have already been published and the details are available on its website at www.mthr.org.uk

Alzheimer's Disease: Drugs

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease were dispensed in the community in each year since 1997; and at what net ingredient cost.

Caroline Flint: The number of prescription itemsand net ingredient cost of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (Donepezil, Galantamine, Memantine and Rivastigmine(1)) dispensed in the community in England is in the following table.
	(1) Rivastigmine is also licensed for dementia associated with Parkinson's disease and some of the data may relate to prescriptions dispensed for that condition.
	
		
			   Prescription items ( Thousand)  Net ingredient cost (£ million ) 
			 1997 7.2 656.8 
			 1998 20.7 1,948.4 
			 1999 34.6 3,215.5 
			 2000 53.8 4,874.0 
			 2001 122.1 11,005.3 
			 2002 231.3 20,567.4 
			 2003 358.2 31,347.5 
			 2004 501.6 42,765.4 
			 2005 630.4 49,256.8 
			 2006 760.1 58,968.7 
			  Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system.

Arthritis: Drugs

Janet Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the cost effectiveness models used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence take into account potential savings in work-related benefits of treatments which enable people with rheumatoid arthritis to remain in or return to work.

Caroline Flint: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) published "Guide to the Methods of Technology Appraisal", which states that, among other things, an appraisal committee may consider:
	"significant resource costs imposed outside the NHS...[including] direct costs on patients or carers (for example, travel costs) or costs to other public sector organisations, but will not normally include productivity costs".
	NICE does not model the impact of its assessments on direct benefit payments, but the methodology NICE uses for assessing health-related quality of life incorporates the benefits to individuals of being able to work.

Aspartame

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if she will take steps to ban the use of Aspartame in drink and food marketed for consumption by children; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will make it a requirement for manufacturers of drink and food containing Aspartame to include in the labelling a warning of possible side effects; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that it has no plans to propose a ban on aspartame in foods for consumption by children. Legislation on sweeteners and other food additives is harmonised throughout the European Union and all additives permitted for use such as aspartame have been regularly assessed for safety by the independent scientific committees that advise the European Commission and the United Kingdom Government.
	In 2001, at the request of the FSA, the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food undertook a comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame. A further review of aspartame was carried out in 2006 by the European Food Safety Authority. Both reviews concluded that there was no evidence to suggest a need to revise their previous risk assessment of the sweetener, which concluded that aspartame is safe for use in food.
	Foods that contain aspartame must be labelled 'contains a source of phenylalanine' as a warning to the small group of people with the inherited disorder phenylketonuria who cannot metabolise the amino acid phenylalanine effectively.

Avian Influenza

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many members of staff from  (a) her Department,  (b) her Department's non-departmental public bodies and  (c) the Food Standards Agency have visited Hungary in relation to the inquiry into the outbreak of avian influenza at Holton; what plans she has to send further staff to Hungary; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Staff from the Department, its non-departmental bodies, or the Food Standards Agency have not made any visits to Hungary in relation to the inquiry into the outbreak of avian influenza in poultry at Holton and there are no plans so to visit.
	Inquiries into the source of the outbreak in poultry at Holton are a matter for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Chips

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice she has received on the quality and quantity of the fat content of  (a) oven-baked chips and (b) deep fried chips.

Caroline Flint: Data on the fat content of foods shows that oven chips contain less fat than deep fried chips. The latest data was published in McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods series in 2002, and is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Food description  Total fat (g/100g)  Saturated fat (g/100g) 
			 Oven chips, frozen, baked (1)4.2 1.8 
			 Chips homemade, fried in blended oil (1)6.7 0.6 
			 Chips retail, fried in blended oil (1)12.4 1.1 
			 French fries, retail (1)15.5 5.8 
			 Chips, straight cut, frozen fried in blended oil (1)13.5 1.2 
			 Chips fine cut, frozen, fried in blended oil (1)21.3 1.8 
			 (1) The fat content of chips will be variable and dependent on a number of factors related to their preparation, including how thick they are cut and their shape i.e. crinkle as opposed to straight cut.  Note: Data from Food Standards Agency (2002) McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, Sixth summary edition. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry. 
		
	
	Product development work carried out by manufacturers since this data was published mayhave changed the fat content of currently available commercial products.

Community Hospitals

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the Productive Community Hospital project commissioned by the NHS Institute from CHKS Ltd.; when she expects to publish the report produced by CHKS; which community hospitals were found by the project not to have been visited by trust chief executives; and by what criteria the 30 community hospitals in phase three of the project were selected.

Andy Burnham: The value of the contract held between the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSII) and CHKS Ltd. is £20,000. The report from CHKS has already been publishedand is available from the NHSII website at www.institute.nhs.uk/productivecommunityhospital. The selection criteria for the 30 hospitals participating in the focused survey can be found on page 12 of the full report. It is not possible to list the community hospitals that were not visited by trust chief executives as the research was conducted in confidence and releasing this information would violate the agreement that CHKS Ltd. had with participating hospitals.

Departments: Sovereign Strategy

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials from her Department held with Sovereign Strategy in each year between 1997 and 2006.

Ivan Lewis: There have not been any meetings between departmental Ministers or permanent secretaries with Sovereign Strategy between 1997 and 2006. Information on meetings with all officials isnot available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Doctors: Contracts

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date her Department gained Treasury approval for  (a) the new GP contract introduced in 2004 and  (b) the new consultant contract introduced in 2003.

Rosie Winterton: New contracts for doctors formed part of the discussions between Department and HM Treasury on the SR02 spending review, which concluded in July 2002.

Electric Cables: Health Hazards

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what response she has made to the Stakeholder Advisory Group on Extremely Low Frequency Waves and Electric Magnetic Fields report Power lines and Property, wiring in homes and electrical equipment in homes, with particular reference to the building of new homes and schools near power lines; and if she will make a statement.

Meg Munn: I have been asked to reply.
	Government have sought advice from the Health Protection Agency on the recently published report by the Stakeholder Advisory Group on Extremely Low Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields. Government are considering the implications of the report's conclusions and recommendations and will respond in due course.

General Practitioners

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of GP practices in each English constituency have closed their lists to new patients.

Andy Burnham: The results for the primary care access survey, February 2007, show that in England214 practices have been reported as having closed lists, this represents 2.5 per cent, of the total.
	The Department does not collect or hold this information broken down by constituency but the following table shows these data by strategic health authority (SHA) and primary care trust (PCT). The data were collected in February 2007.
	
		
			   Closed lists 
			   Number of practices whose list is closed for new patients to register  Percentage of (all) practices whose list is closed for new patients to register 
			 England 214 2.5 
			  Strategic health authority   
			 North East 12 2.9 
			 North West 59 4.4 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 26 3.1 
			 East Midlands 3 0.5 
			 West Midlands 43 4.2 
			 East of England 25 3.1 
			 London 16 1.0 
			 South East Coast 22 3.3 
			 South Central 3 0.6 
			 South West 5 0.7 
			
			  Primary care trusts   
			 County Durham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Darlington PCT 0 0.0 
			 Gateshead PCT 2 5.9 
			 Hartlepool PCT 0 0.0 
			 Middlesbrough PCT 0 0.0 
			 Newcastle PCT 0 0.0 
			 North Tyneside PCT 0 0.0 
			 Northumberland Care Trust 1 2.0 
			 Redcar and Cleveland PCT 0 0.0 
			 South Tyneside PCT 8 25.0 
			 Stockton-on-Tees Teaching 0 0.0 
			 Sunderland Teaching PCT 1 1.9 
			 Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 0 0.0 
			 Blackburn with Darwen PCT 4 12.1 
			 Blackpool PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bolton PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bury PCT 2 6.1 
			 Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 1 1.9 
			 Central Lancashire PCT 7 7.4 
			 Cumbria PCT 7 7.2 
			 East Lancashire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Halton and St Helens PCT 0 0.0 
			 Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale PCT 1 2.9 
			 Knowsley PCT 0 0.0 
			 Liverpool PCT 0 0.0 
			 Manchester PCT 9 8.5 
			 North Lancashire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Oldham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Salford PCT 10 17.2 
			 Sefton PCT 3 5.5 
			 Stockport PCT 0 0.0 
			 Tameside and Glossop PCT 2 5.0 
			 Trafford PCT 10 21.3 
			 Warrington PCT 3 10.3 
			 Western Cheshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Wirral PCT 0 0.0 
			 Barnsley PCT 1 2.3 
			 Bradford and Airedale PCT 13 14.9 
			 Calderdale PCT 0 0.0 
			 Doncaster PCT 0 0.0 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire PCT 2 4.8 
			 Hull PCT 8 13.3 
			 Kirklees PCT 0 0.0 
			 Leeds PCT 1 0.9 
			 North East Lincolnshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 North Lincolnshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT 0 0.0 
			 Rotherham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Sheffield PCT 1 1.0 
			 Wakefield District PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bassetlaw PCT 0 0.0 
			 Derby City PCT 0 0.0 
			 Derbyshire County PCT 0 0.0 
			 Leicester City PCT 1 1.4 
			 Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT 1 1.2 
			 Lincolnshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Northamptonshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Nottingham City PCT 0 0.0 
			 Nottinghamshire County PCT 1 1.0 
			 Birmingham East and North PCT 1 1.2 
			 Coventry Teaching PCT 2 3.0 
			 Dudley PCT 32 57.1 
			 Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 4 5.2 
			 Herefordshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 North Staffordshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Sandwell PCT 0 0.0 
			 Shropshire County PCT 0 0.0 
			 Solihull PCT 0 0.0 
			 South Birmingham PCT 1 1.5 
			 South Staffordshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Stoke on Trent PCT 2 3.4 
			 Telford and Wrekin PCT 0 0.0 
			 Walsall Teaching PCT 0 0.0 
			 Warwickshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Wolverhampton City PCT 1 1.4 
			 Worcestershire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bedfordshire PCT 4 7.3 
			 Cambridgeshire PCT 2 2.6 
			 East and North Hertfordshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT 3 9.1 
			 Luton Teaching PCT 9 28.1 
			 Mid Essex PCT 1 2.0 
			 Norfolk PCT 0 0.0 
			 North East Essex PCT 0 0.0 
			 Peterborough PCT 3 9.4 
			 South East Essex PCT 0 0.0 
			 South West Essex PCT 2 2.4 
			 Suffolk PCT 1 1.4 
			 West Essex PCT 0 0.0 
			 West Hertfordshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Barking and Dagenham PCT 1 1.8 
			 Barnet PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bexley Care Trust 0 0.0 
			 Brent Teaching PCT 2 2.8 
			 Bromley PCT 2 3.7 
			 Camden PCT 1 2.3 
			 City and Hackney Teaching PCT 0 0.0 
			 Croydon PCT 0 0.0 
			 Ealing PCT 3 3.4 
			 Enfield PCT 0 0.0 
			 Greenwich Teaching PCT 1 1.5 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Haringey Teaching PCT 0 0.0 
			 Harrow PCT 1 2.6 
			 Havering PCT 0 0.0 
			 Hillingdon PCT 2 3.9 
			 Hounslow PCT 1 1.7 
			 Islington PCT 0 0.0 
			 Kensington and Chelsea PCT 0 0.0 
			 Kingston PCT 0 0.0 
			 Lambeth PCT 0 0.0 
			 Lewisham PCT 1 2.0 
			 Newham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Redbridge PCT 0 0.0 
			 Richmond and Twickenham PCT 0 0.0 
			 Southwark PCT 0 0.0 
			 Sutton and Merton PCT 0 0.0 
			 Tower Hamlets PCT 1 2.7 
			 Waltham Forest PCT 0 0.0 
			 Wandsworth PCT 0 0.0 
			 Westminster PCT 0 0.0 
			 Brighton and Hove City PCT 0 0.0 
			 East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT 0 0.0 
			 Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT 0 0.0 
			 Hastings and Rother PCT 0 0.0 
			 Medway Teaching PCT 3 4.5 
			 Surrey PCT 4 2.9 
			 West Kent PCT 14 13.3 
			 West Sussex PCT 1 1.0 
			 Berkshire East PCT 1 1.8 
			 Berkshire West PCT 0 0.0 
			 Buckinghamshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Hampshire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Isle of Wight Healthcare PCT 0 0.0 
			 Milton Keynes PCT 1 3.6 
			 Oxfordshire PCT 1 1.2 
			 Portsmouth City Teaching PCT 0 0.0 
			 Southampton City PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bath and North East Somerset PCT 0 0.0 
			 Bournemouth and Poole PCT 1 2.0 
			 Bristol PCT 0 0.0 
			 Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT 1 1.4 
			 Devon PCT 0 0.0 
			 Dorset PCT o 0.0 
			 Gloucestershire PCT 0 0.0 
			 North Somerset PCT 0 0.0 
			 Plymouth Teaching PCT 0 0.0 
			 Somerset PCT 0 0.0 
			 South Gloucestershire PCT 0 0.0 
			 Swindon PCT 3 9.1 
			 Torbay Care Trust 0 0.0 
			 Wiltshire PCT 0 0.0

General Practitioners: Working Hours

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what definition she uses of universal GP opening hours, as referred to on page 23 of the Department of Health's research report, Our health, our care, our say—one year on.

Andy Burnham: The document "Our health, our care, our say: One year on" was prepared by Opinion Leader Research and reports a public event on27 March 2007. The term universal opening hours was used in discussion by members of the public at that event and is not a statement of departmental policy.

Health Services: Portsmouth

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to Portsmouth, North constituency, the effects of changes to departmental policy since 1997 on Portsmouth, North constituency.

Caroline Flint: The Government have put in place a programme of national health service investment and reform since 1997 to improve service delivery in all parts of the United Kingdom. There is significant evidence that these policies have yielded considerable benefits for the Portsmouth, North constituency.
	For example:
	At the end of February 2007 the number of people waiting more than 26 weeks for in-patient treatment within Portsmouth City Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) had fallen to zero from 1,005 in June 2002.
	At the end of February 2007 the number of people waiting more than 13 weeks for out-patient treatment within Portsmouth City Teaching PCT had fallen to zero from 939 in June 2002, Portsmouth City PCT funding has increased by over 31.5 per cent.(£47.1 million) in the three years from 2003-04 to 2005-06.
	The PCT's funding will increase by 19.2 per cent. (£41 million) in the two years from 2006-07 to 2007-08. By 2007-08, the PCT will have reached its fair funding allocation target.
	98.4 per cent. of patients attending the A and E department at Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust are seen within four hours.
	99.7 per cent. of people referred urgently by their general practitioner see a cancer specialist within two weeks.
	95.4 per cent. of cancer patient referrals are treated within two months.
	Compared to 1997 Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust now has:
	123 more consultants;
	159 more doctors in training;
	707 more nurses; and
	164 more health care assistants.
	A major £236 million private finance initiative redevelopment scheme is under way on the Queen Alexandra hospital site. Currently acute services are provided across three sites, the redevelopment of the Queen Alexandra hospital site will enable all acute services the trust provides to be housed on one site. To date £55 million of construction has been carried out.

Health Services: West Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make an assessment of the effect of recent trends in immigration on the delivery of  (a) maternity and  (b) accident and emergency services in West Sussex.

Caroline Flint: It is for local primary care trustsin conjunction with other stakeholders, to make assessments of current and future health needs and to commission services accordingly.

Hospital Wards

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2007,  Official Report, column 1510W, on hospital wards 
	(1)  when she determined the timescale for publication;
	(2)  what comprehensive assessment of the situation was undertaken between 30 April and 9 May 2007.

Rosie Winterton: The timescale for publication was decided over a period of weeks. A May publication was mooted in mid-April, but at this stage no specific date was confirmed. A final decision to publish on10 May was made on 4 May.
	The assessment leading to the report commenced in late November 2006, when strategic health authorities (SHA) were asked to review the situation in their areas. Between 30 April and 9 May, final checking of the information was undertaken, confirmed SHAs their intention to publish local position statements.

Hospital Wards: Warwickshire

John Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients have been located in mixed sex wards at the  (a) Walsgrave,  (b) Warwick,  (c) Alcester,  (d) Stratford-upon-Avon and  (e) Ellen Badger hospitals since May 2006;
	(2)  what the reasons were for the location of patients in mixed sex wards at  (a) Walsgrave,  (b) Warwick,  (c) Alcester,  (d) Stratford-upon-Avon and  (e) Ellen Badger hospitals since May 2006.

Rosie Winterton: The information requestedis not collected centrally. However, standards of privacy and dignity are measured by the Healthcare Commission against two core standards, which require that:
	(C13a) "Staff treat patients, their relatives and carers with dignity and respect"; and
	(C20b) "Health care services are provided in environments which promote effective care and optimize health outcomes by being supportive of patient privacy and confidentiality".
	The boards of all national health service trusts in England are required to make public declarations annually on the extent to which they meet the core standards set by the Government. In 2005-06, the following NHS organisations all declared that they were compliant with the two privacy and dignity core standards detailed above:
	South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust (responsible for the Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon hospitals);
	University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (responsible for Walsgrave hospital); and
	South Warwickshire Primary Care Trust (formerly responsible for Alcester and Ellen Badger Hospitals).

Hospitals: Construction

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate she has made of the capital cost of building a medium-sized district general hospital.

Andy Burnham: An indicative cost of building a medium-sized district general hospital is approximately £240 million (excluding VAT) which reflects the current business case approval level. The cost includes the capital construction cost for a new 418 bed hospital built on a green field site, together with supporting services such as operating theatres, out-patient department, accident and emergency services, catering, office accommodation, public areas, pharmacy, pathology and radiography. The cost also includes for equipment costs and professional fees incurred. It does not include the running costs to make the hospital operational, such as staffing and other hard and soft facilities management services.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the latest figures are for the incidence of  acinetobacter baumannii in England; whether there is in place a system for  (a) the reporting and  (b) the investigation of all cases; whether a process for identifying  acinetobacte r baumannii is undertaken as a matter of course; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) asks microbiology laboratories to report all cases of bloodstream infections caused by Acinetobacter species, this is the voluntary surveillance system.
	The latest figures(1) of  A. baumannii bloodstream infections under the HPA's voluntary reporting scheme for England are as shown.
	
		
			   Number of infections 
			 2001 207 
			 2002 265 
			 2003 295 
			 2004 310 
			 2005 341 
			  Source: HPA 
		
	
	Investigation of cases will be decided locally however in addition to voluntary surveillance the HPA also collects data on resistant organisms including Acinetobacter spp (species), and provides a reference service for investigating unusually resistant bacteria and the mechanisms responsible for their resistance, and seeks to identify options for treating infections.
	The HPA has been involved in the investigationand characterisation of multi-resistant clones of Acinetobacter that have been associated with outbreaks in hospitals, particularly in London and south east England(2,)( )(3). The HPA has published guidance on the control of outbreaks of multi-resistant Acinetobacter(4).
	The widely used commercial identification systems are often inadequate for the routine identification of specific Acinetobacter spp. owing to their poor reactivity in these test systems. The level of species identification varies between hospital laboratories. Some laboratories may classify isolates only to Acinetobacter spp. level unless they have an ongoing problem with multi-resistant strains.
	(1) Acinetobacter spp bacteraemia in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: 2005. Communicable Disease Report Weekly 2006; 16 (13 October 2006) http://www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/archives/2006/cdr4206.pdf
	(2) JF Turton, ME Kaufmann, M Warner et al. A prevalent, multi-resistant clone of Acinetobacter baumanii in Southeast England. Journal of Hospital Infection 2004; 58: 170-179.
	(3) JM Coelho, JF Turton, ME Kaufman et al. Occurrence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii clones at multiple hospitals in London and Southeast England. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 2006; 44: 3623-3627.
	(4) Interim guidance on the control of outbreaks of multi-resistant Acinetobacter. http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/acinetobacter_b/guidance.htm

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether one million NHS staff have received training in infection control, as referred to by her Department's Chief Nursing Officer in her speech to the Chief Nursing Officer's conference of 3 November 2004; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Information about the number of national health service staff who have received infection control training is not held centrally.
	Progression of infection control training, is centred upon a number of activities at both the national and local level. The statutory Code of Practice for the Prevention and Control of Health Care Associated Infections lays on NHS bodies a duty to ensure that all staff are suitably educated in the prevention and control of these infections.
	At the time of making the speech referred to, the Chief Nursing Officer was highlighting the importance of infection control training, in the context of the NHS Agenda for Change Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF), which was to be launched in December 2004.
	In particular, under the KSF, staff at all levels must have a core health and safety dimension (which includes infection control) as part of their KSF outline. Delivery of this component of the KSF is a matter for local determination. A key resource, with potential to assist staff in fulfilling the KSF requirement is the NHS Infection Control Programme, which was published in September 2005 by the NHS Core Learning Unit. This is a free to access, on-line learning programme, aimed at all staff, which covers critical aspects of infection prevention practice.

Influenza: Vaccination

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure on advertising campaignsin support of the seasonal influenza immunisation programme was in  (a) real and  (b) cash terms in each year since 2000-01.

Caroline Flint: Total expenditure on advertising campaigns in support of the seasonal influenza immunisation programme in each year since 2000-01, broken down into real and cash terms are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Flu campaign—advertising spend 
			  £ million 
			   Cash  Real 
			 2000-01 2.02 2.02 
			 2001-02 1.45 1.41 
			 2002-03 2.00 2.00 
			 2003-04 1.60 1.58 
			 2004-05 1.50 1.50 
			 2005-06 1.85 1.81 
			 2006-07 1.10 1.10

Influenza: Vaccination

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many influenza vaccine doses have been secured for the winter of 2007-08; from which manufacturers this supply has been secured; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The forecasts from the UK Vaccine Industry Group (UVIG) is that 15.75 million doses of flu vaccine will be available for the United Kingdom for the 2007-08 seasonal flu programme.
	The Department does not purchase flu vaccine. It is the responsibility of general practitioners to order their vaccine direct from the supplier of their choice based on the number of eligible patients on their register. There are currently six suppliers of flu vaccine to the UK market and these are Sanofi Pastuer MSD, Novartis Vaccines (formerly Chiron Vaccines), GlaxoSmithKline, MASTA, Solvay Healthcare and Wyeth Vaccines.

Maternity Services

Angela Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the recommended ratio of professional midwives to women in labour wards is in hospital maternity units;
	(2)  what the recommended ratio is of professional midwives to  (a) mothers and  (b) babies in (i) delivery suites and (ii) post-natal wards in hospital maternity units.

Caroline Flint: No such ratios have been recommended. The birth to midwife ratio varies throughout the country and is dependant on a range of factors including, the model of care, the care setting and the skill mix of the work force. Local organisations should identify an appropriate ratio based on the needs of their local population. Work force planning tools are in place to support this locally.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Health when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 24 April,on nurses' pay and mental health services in Worcestershire.

Andy Burnham: The reply was sent on 24 May 2007.

Methadone

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department collects data on the deathor injury of third parties as a result of ingesting methadone provided to an addict as a drug substitute.

Caroline Flint: The data is not collected centrally.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total  (a) staff and  (b) public membership is of NHS foundation trusts (i) in total and (ii) broken down by trust.

Andy Burnham: The total number of staff and public membership of the 32 national health service foundation trusts in existence during 2005-06 is available in then following table. The table is taken from Monitor's "Review and Consolidated Accounts of NHS Foundation Trusts 2005-06", which is available from their website at:
	www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk/publications.php?id=960
	There are now 65 foundation trusts. I am advised by the Chairman of Monitor (whose statutory name is the Independent Regulator of NHS foundation trusts)that all foundation trusts must include details of membership figures when they submit their annual plans to Monitor on 31 May 2007. This information will be included in Monitor's report of the consolidated accounts of foundation trusts for 2006-07, which Monitor will publish this autumn. Monitor is under a duty to lay their report before Parliament and send a copy to the Secretary of State.
	
		
			  Membership of NHS foundation trusts 2005-06 
			   Total membership as at 31 March  Of which: 
			  NHS f oundation  t rust  2005  2006  Public( 1)  Staff  Patient 
			 Barnsley Hospital 12,508 12,602 9,670 2,932 — 
			 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals 10,062 12,069 7,713 4,356 — 
			 Bradford Teaching Hospitals 3,485 4,221 1,716 2,248 257 
			 Cambridge University Hospitals 22,397 23,597 8,492 7,296 7,809 
			 Chesterfield Royal Hospital 9,799 13,346 10,189 3,157 — 
			 City Hospitals Sunderland 7,101 9,129 3,394 4,664 1,071 
			 Countess of Chester Hospital 3,611 4,266 3,739 527 — 
			 Derby Hospitals 9,647 13,994 6,560 7,434 — 
			 Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals 7,378 7,870 2,327 5,311 232 
			 Frimley Park Hospital 5,841 7,671 6,103 1,568 — 
			 Gateshead Health 9,121 11,171 7,852 3,319 — 
			 Gloucestershire Hospitals 15,203 14,609 12,707 908 994 
			 Guy's and St Thomas' 13,490 13,368 2,227 8,317 2,824 
			 Harrogate and District 10,559 13,557 12,798 759 — 
			 Heart of England 48,141 51,038 40,488 6,800 3,750 
			 Homerton University Hospital 4,544 5,968 4,525 1,443 — 
			 Lancashire Teaching Hospitals 9,394 14,592 3,079 5,784 5,729 
			 Liverpool Women's 10,074 10,693 9,806 887 — 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital 11,436 11,487 8,882 1,305 1,300 
			 Papworth Hospital 8,156 11,690 11,024 666 — 
			 Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals 8,685 8,523 5,073 3,450 — 
			 Queen Victoria Hospital 12,838 12,864 11,833 1,031 — 
			 Rotherham 5,373 5,502 4,497 1,005 — 
			 Royal Devon and Exeter 15,184 15,639 10,481 5,158 — 
			 Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases 4,557 4,612 759 418 3,435 
			 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals 6,505 18,168 1,870 12,823 3,475 
			 South Tyneside 4,526 4,981 2,653 2,328 — 
			 Stockport 11,535 11,938 8,279 3,659 — 
			 The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals 13,305 14,990 13,995 995 — 
			 The Royal Marsden 2,397 4,893 1,080 2,427 1,386 
			 University College London Hospitals 8,592 10,194 543 6,600 3,051 
			 University Hospital Birmingham 96,406 91,961 58,684 7,075 26,202 
			   
			 Total 421,850 471,203 293,038 116,650 61,515 
			 (1 )For a number of NHS foundation trusts, this column shows public and patient figures combined.

NHS: Databases

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the security of each database containing personal details used by the NHS.

Caroline Flint: Historically each national health service organisation has been responsible for the physical and technical security safeguards, and access arrangements, for the very many local databases containing information about patients and NHS staff. These range in scale and scope from trust-wide patient information systems, to ephemeral personal contact lists held by individual members of staff.
	NHS organisations are required to comply with comprehensive guidance on information security standards set out in the NHS information governance toolkit. Performance against these standards by NHS trusts and primary care trusts is collected centrallyand monitored for compliance. Legal penalties for individuals and organisations misusing personalhealth and other information are provided for under section 60 of the Data Protection Act 1998. NHS organisations are responsible, as employers, for the actions taken on their behalf by their employees, and for disciplining their staff when they behave inappropriately. The practice expected of NHS organisations in managing the use and protection of patient information is set out in the document, "Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice", published in November 2003.
	Access to the national systems and services being developed and delivered through the national programme for information technology is determined by the policies, processes and technology provided by the Department's NHS Connecting for Health agency. These include that a user must have a smartcard. Smartcards are issued only after identity and qualifications have been checked under arrangements that conform with the e-Government interoperability framework (eGif) level 3 standards for the registration and authentication of staff. Staff must also be registered as a member of a health care team, for example a general practitioner practice or a clinic, that the patient is registered with or has been referred to, providing that patient with care, and will then only be able to access as much information as is needed for the purpose of their role within the health care team.
	Users are required to acknowledge their acceptance of the terms and conditions under which they may operate, including that smartcard will not be shared, smartcards and logged-on computers will not be left unattended, and conformity with the NHS Code of Confidentiality. Nominated information assurance leads in each organisation ensure the access controls are being adhered to correctly and that no unauthorised access is allowed.
	The security of patient identifiable data travelling over the new NHS broadband network (N3) is further protected using various network security controls,and encryption which ensures the two end points ofthe communication are valid, speak the same cryptographic language, and encrypts the communication that passes between them. In addition to encryption, the network security controls include each NHS trust, and the national spine database, having a firewall to protect it. The N3 network runs intrusion detection and prevention systems alongside other network management processes. Further, all of the data centres being used for national programme systems meet the highest standards of data centre security as defined by the Communications Electronic Security Group, the information assurance arm of the Government Communications Headquarters. Regular reviews of the end-to-end security infrastructure are also undertaken to identify where industry best practice has changed or technologies improved so that these can be incorporated into the overall system.
	While no system can be 100 per cent. secure, together these safeguards have been devised to provide an unprecedented degree of assurance of security for national programme systems and services, and the personal data they will contain, compared with existing local electronic systems. They are evidence of the very great importance that we attach to protecting the confidentiality of patient information. They contrast sharply with the situation with regard to paper records. As well as often being difficult to read, or inaccessible when they are needed, these are inherently insecure and can be easily lost, as exemplified by a recent case where paper copies of patient information from 2001-02 were found in second-hand filing cabinets.

NHS: Drugs

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products has undertaken research into the effectiveness of regulations on the development and licensing of orphan medicines; and whether there has been an assessment of access to these medicines for patients in the UK.

Caroline Flint: Research findings into the effectiveness of regulations on the development and licensing of orphan medicines are presented in the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) Report to the Commission in relation to article 10 of regulation 141/2000 in orphan medicinal products. It includes an assessment of access to these medicines for patients in the different member states, including the United Kingdom.
	The report concludes that while COMP considers that the current legislation framework for orphan medicinal products is suitable overall to achieve public health benefits for patients suffering from rare diseases, it has identified a number of policy areas that require strengthening. COMP makes six recommendationsto stimulate and foster European Union policy and makes three suggestions for action to the European Commission.
	This report is published on the website of the European Medicines Agency under document reference EMEA/35218/2005 at www.emea.eu.int and is available in the Library.

NHS: Management

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the likely effects of the management of the NHS being undertaken by an independent board.

Andy Burnham: holding answer 16 May 2007
	In recent weeks, the British Medical Association has published a report on the issue of greater operational independence for the national health service, and both the King's Fund and the Nuffield Trust are currently engaged in research on this area.
	Since 1997, this Government have already entrenched far greater independence in the NHS. This includes the development of foundation trusts free from Whitehall control; the creation of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to provide independent advice to the NHS on the clinical andcost effectiveness of different drugs and treatments; and the institution of the independent Healthcare Commission.
	We will watch the public debate on this topic with interest, and use it in our continuing assessment ofthe best approach to the relationship between the Department and the NHS.

Obesity: Hartlepool

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) children and  (b) adults were classified as obese in Hartlepool constituency in each year since 1996; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of obesity.

Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Data for Hartlepool constituency's obesity prevalence among adults are not available. However the estimated prevalence of obesity can be given for adults in Hartlepool primary care trust (PCT) for the combined years 2000-02. This information is given in the table.
	Data on childhood obesity in the Hartlepool constituency are also not available. Figures on children's obesity prevalence by Government office region for the combined years 2002-04 are available and are published in the Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, England 2006 publication produced by the information centre for health and social care at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/health-and-lifestyles/obesity/statistics-on-obesity-physical-activity-and-diet-england-2006
	
		
			  Table 1:  E stimated prevalence( 1)  of obesity among adults in Hartlepool primary care trust, 2000-02 
			   Percentage 
			 Estimated prevalence of obesity 23.9 
			 95 per cent. lower confidence interval 21.8 
			 95 per cent. upper confidence interval 26.6 
			 Comparison of estimated prevalence for obesity with national estimate(2) (3)— 
			 (1) Please note that these data were created from the ward level estimates which can also be found on the Neighbourhood Statistics website. The PCOs were built up from aggregation of "best-fit" ward data. Since PCOs and wards are not conterminous, this information is not exact. (2) The national estimate is derived directly from the Health Surveys for England 2000-02 (with associated confidence intervals) and therefore is not a synthetic estimate. (3) Overlapping.  Source: Synthetic Estimates of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours at PCO Level, 2000-02, The Information Centre, Neighbourhood Statistics 2005

Obesity: Surgery

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many gastroplasty procedures have been undertaken by the NHS in each year since 1997-98; and what the average cost was of a gastroplasty procedure in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Flint: Data is given in the following table on gastroplasty procedures for 1997-98 to 2005-06. The data is split into two groups: one for where the procedure is for a gastroplasty and the second for where the procedure is on the stomach but the area is unspecified so it could include gastroplasty among other procedures.
	
		
			  Count of total gastroplasty procedures—Data for national health service hospitals England, data years 1997-98 to 2005-06 
			  Data year  Total procedures for G24.5 Antireflux operations, Gastroplasty and antireflux procedure, G30.1 Plastic operations on stomach, Gastroplasty nec and G30.2 Plastic operations on stomach, Partitioning of stomach  Total procedures for G30.8 Plastic operations on stomach, Other specified and G30.9 Plastic operations on stomach, unspecified 
			 1997-98 188 35 
			 1998-99 198 58 
			 1999-2000 179 33 
			 2000-01 222 51 
			 2001-02 222 50 
			 2002-03 248 64 
			 2003-04 269 96 
			 2004-05 367 169 
			 2005-06 456 217 
			  Note: The data provided is not related to a count of patients treated. As the question stated, these are data for the number of procedures taking place, and it may be possible for patients to have more than one of the procedure codes attached to their episode. 
		
	
	The costs of gastroplasty procedures are not separately identified or are available.

Orthopaedics

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress her Department is making on the tariff for payment by results in orthopaedic hospitals.

Andy Burnham: The Department of Health published the 'Options for the Future of Payment by Results: 2008-09 to 2010-11' consultation document on 15 March 2007. The consultation document puts forward proposals for developing payment by results for specialist services, which includes specialist orthopaedic services. A response to the consultation will be published later this year. Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Library.
	Departmental officials continue to work closely with specialist orthopaedic hospitals and the specialist orthopaedic alliance. The latest meeting with representatives from specialist orthopaedic hospitals was on 22 May 2007 and with the specialist orthopaedic alliance on 2 May 2007. The Secretary of State for Health and the Minister of State for Delivery and Reform also met with representatives from all specialist hospitals on 22 February 2007.

Physiotherapy: Training

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answers of 23 April 2007,  Official Report, column 970W, on Physiotherapy: training and 20 April 2007,  Official Report, columns 819-20W, on Nurses: training, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that  (a) the number of newly qualified staff meets the number of available posts and  (b) the number of staff training in different specialities meets demand; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The work force review team (WRT) works in close partnership with the Department, strategic health authorities, professional bodies, and a range of other stakeholders to help shape work force strategies and to help ensure the levels of supply of newly qualified staff and the number of staff in training meets the levels of demand locally and nationally.
	The WRT provide a national view of the planning and investment strategies needed to produce a work force with the right skills, in the right numbers, in the right places to deliver the health services that patients want and need in the future.
	The WRT produce reliable data and intelligence about the work force, and their recommendations prepared each year inform local work force planners and provide guidance on the investment of national and local training budgets in work force development.

Prescriptions: Easington

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions were dispensed in Easington constituency for  (a) methadone,  (b) diamorphine and  (c) anti-depressants in each year since 2002; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Easington constituency has been assumed to be co-terminus with Easington Primary Care Trust. This PCT merged with others to form Durham PCT in October 2006 and so separate figures do not exist for Easington PCT after this date. The Prescription Pricing Division maintain only 60 months data in their live systems and so figures are not available for the whole of 2002.
	The following table shows the number of items dispensed in Easington. For methadone all forms (including cough linctus) have been included.
	
		
			   Anti-depressants  Methadone  Diamorph i ne 
			 2003 69,409 1,496 222 
			 2004 71,294 3,207 217 
			 2005 73,831 5,343 158 
			 2006 (January- September) 58,602 5,125 136 
			  Notes: 1.  PCA data Prescription information is taken from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system, supplied by the Prescription Pricing Division (PPD) of the Business Services Authority (BSA), and is based on a full analysis of all prescriptions dispensed in the community i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. Also included are prescriptions written in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man but dispensed in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospitals, including mental health trusts, or private prescriptions. 2.  Prescription items Prescriptions are written on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent submissions she has received in support of free prescriptions for asthmatics; and when she expects the findings of the review of prescription charges to be published.

Caroline Flint: The Department has welcomed comments on possible options for changing thecurrent prescription charge arrangements from all organisations that wished to make representations. Between 1 November 2006 and 10 May 2007, 52 representations were received from organisations and individuals advocating free prescriptions for asthmatics.
	We have undertaken to report to Parliament before the summer recess 2007.

Rehabilitation Centres: Young People

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) name and  (b) location is of each dedicated residential rehabilitation unit for adolescents with addiction problems.

Caroline Flint: There are 23 residential services in England for young people who have or have had substance misuse problems, covering a range of services from short term crisis intervention centres to long-term interventions for young people with multifaceted needs. Within these 23 services there are four specialist residential drug and alcohol services. Information about these services are as follows:
	
		
			  Name of service  Location  Age covered 
			 The PROMIS Recovery Centre—Residential addiction rehabilitation centre Nonington, Kent 14-18 
			 Companions—Intensive rehabilitation treatment programme Eccleshall, Staffordshire 14-18 
			 Middlegate Lodge—12 week residential programme Caistor, Lincolnshire 11-17 
			 Godden Green Clinic—Treatment tailored to individual need Sevenoaks, Kent 12-18 
			  Note: These are all listed in the National Treatment Agency's (NTA) Directory of Residential Services for Young People.  Source: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/areas/young_people/Docs/Young_people_directory.pdf

Smoking

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of smokers being treated for smoking-related illness in the NHS.

Caroline Flint: Figures are available and provided on the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) in national health service hospitals for those aged 35 and over with a primary diagnosis of diseases that can be caused by smoking and estimates of the number of those FCEs attributable to smoking.
	Table 1 shows the number of FCEs for those aged35 and over with a primary diagnosis of various diseases that can be caused by smoking and estimates of the number of those FCEs that can be attributed to smoking. Figures have been provided for 2004-05, as this is the most recent year for which data are available. It is acknowledged that not all of the FCEs included in the table will be attributable to smoking as there are other contributory factors to these diseases. Therefore, the relative risks of these diseases for current and ex-smokers, compared to non-smokers have been used to estimate smoking-attributable FCEs.
	
		
			  Table 1: Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs)( 1)  among adults aged 35 and over( 2) , with a primary diagnosis of diseases that can be caused by smoking, and the estimated number of these FCEs that can be attributed( 3)  to smoking as a percentage of all admissions from that disease, 2004-05( 4) , England 
			  Number/percentage 
			  Diagnosis (ICD 10)  Observed FCEs( 5)  Attributable number( 6)  Attributable percentage 
			  All diseases caused in part by smoking 1,573,395 559,800 36 
			 
			  Cancers caused in part by smoking 335,707 172,400 51 
			 Lung 89,547 75,800 85 
			 Upper respiratory sites 18,614 12,900 69 
			 Oesophagus 38,484 26,200 68 
			 Bladder 78,177 30,500 39 
			 Kidney 12,132 3,400 28 
			 Stomach 28,639 7,300 25 
			 Pancreas 22,967 6,000 26 
			 Unspecified site 17,244 6,300 37 
			 Myeloid leukaemia 29,903 4,200 14 
			 
			  Respiratory diseases caused in part by smoking 315,927 177,300 56 
			 Chronic obstructive lung disease 176,294 147,300 84 
			 Pneumonia 139,633 30,000 21 
			 
			  Circulatory diseases caused in part by smoking 636,226 158,100 25 
			 Ischaemic heart disease 419,513 106,200 25 
			 Peripheral Arterial Disease 18,797 15,800 84 
			 Cerebrovascular disease 169,584 24,200 14 
			 Aortic aneurysm 15,457 9,500 62 
			 Myocardial infarction 2,802 600 21 
			 Atherosclerosis 10,073 1,900 19 
			 
			  Diseases of the digestive system caused in part by smoking 59,765 26,400 44 
			 Stomach/duodenal ulcer 41,879 22,200 53 
			 Crohn's disease 15,205 3,000 20 
			 Periodontal disease 2,681 1,200 46 
			 
			  Other diseases caused in part by smoking 225,770 25,500 11 
			 Age related cataract among those aged 45 and over 127,111 15,500 12 
			 Hip fracture among those aged 55 and over 85,641 9,200 11 
			 Spontaneous abortion 13,018 700 6 
			 (1) An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Figures do not represent the number of patients, as a patient may have more than one episode of care within the year. (2) Figures have been presented for adults aged 35 and over unless otherwise specified. (3) More information on the methodology used to calculate these estimates are available in the Statistics on Smoking: England, 2006 publication produced by The Information Centre for health and social care, which is available in the House Library. (4) The data include private patients in NHS hospitals (but not private patients in private hospitals). (5) Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data. Observed admissions only includes those where gender was recorded. (6) Estimated attributable number, rounded to the nearest 100.  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). The Information Centre.

Smoking: Clubs

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the impact of the smoking ban on private members clubs; and what representations she has received on the matter.

Caroline Flint: Costs and benefits associated with smokefree legislation are included with the regulatory impact assessment published by the Department, which includes reference to the hospitality industry.
	Members clubs have been consulted at all stages of consideration of the Health Act 2006 and its implementation. We continue to work closely with organisations representing members clubs in the run up to the implementation of the smokefree provisions of the Health Act 2006 on 1 July 2007. The General Secretary of the Committee of Registered Clubs Association is a member of the Smokefree England ministerial reference group that provides a forum for direct and regular contact on implementation issues between the Department and key stakeholders.

Surgery

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis is for the statement on page four of her Department's report Saws and Scalpels to Lasers and Robots, published on 17 April 2007, that greater specialisation in complex cases could result in local hospitals being able to carry out 80 per cent. of planned surgery, with 20 per cent. of cases being carried out in more specialised centres.

Andy Burnham: In that part of his report, Professor Sir Ara Darzi set out his vision for surgery and gave his view of the proportions of planned surgery which might be carried out either locally or at specialised centres in the future. He was giving his expert judgement based on extensive clinical experience.